









































































































































































































Copyright N° 


COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



















BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


BY 


G. ROWLAND COLLINS 

Assistant Professor of Marketing and Assistant Director of the Day 
Division in New York University School of Commerce 
Accounts and Finance 


and 


HOMER D. LINDGREN 

Instructor in Public Speaking in New York University 
School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance 


CHARLES WATSON RUSSELL, Publisher 
NEW YORK CITY, N. Y. 





# * 


I 

BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 

JX- 

I'n'Z' 


BY 

G. ROWLAND COLLINS 

Assistant Professor of Marketing and Assistant Director of the Day 
Division in New York University School of Commerce 
Accounts and Finance 


and 


HOMER D. LINDGREN 

Instructor in Public Speaking in New York University 
School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance 



CHARLES WATSON RUSSELL, Publisher 
NEW YORK CITY, N. Y. 


IH 5 


Copyright applied for 



©C1A704204 


APR 21 1923 




FOREWORD 


The authors are indebted to many academic writers on 
Argumentation and Debate, and particularly to the writings 
of Professor George Pierce Baker of Harvard University, 
William Trufant Foster, formerly president of Reed College, 
and Professor H. F. Covington of Princeton University. 

Grateful acknowledgement is due to Mr. R. F. Brosius, 
Instructor in Business English in New York University 
School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance, for reading the 
manuscript and making helpful suggestions. 

G. Rowland Collins. 

Homer D. Lindgren. 


January 27, 1923. 


4 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


INTRODUCTION. 

Business is a pursuit or occupation, the purpose of which 
is to sell goods (or services) at a profit. 

“A business man is a man who sells goods.”—Elbert Hub¬ 
bard. 

Selling involves influencing men’s minds to belief and ac¬ 
tion with respect to goods (or services). 

It is a man-to-man process. 

It deals with the human mind; it is concerned with resolv¬ 
ing differences of opinion. 

Business success, then, is largely dependent upon ability 
to influence the thoughts and acts of men. 

Argumentation is the general term usually applied to the 
process of resolving differences of opinion. 

Argumentation may be defined as the act of influencing 
the opinions, beliefs, or actions of others by means of pre¬ 
sented propositions. 

Debate is a specialized form of argumentation, in which 
the opponent is present and is heard ( debatere —to beat off). 
It is always oral. 

A selling talk or an advertisement is an example of argu¬ 
mentation. A selling talk in which the prospect voices ob¬ 
jections and is answered by the salesman is an example of de¬ 
bate. 

Argumentation may be either oral or written. In business 
either the selling word in spoken form or the selling word 
in written form may be used. 

Argumentation is an art; but it is an art in which effec¬ 
tiveness depends upon an understanding of the sciences of 
logic and psychology. 

A good salesman creates in the minds of his prospects 
“an altered state of consciousness.” Argumentation is not 
merely an appeal from reason to reason; it is also an appeal 
from one state of consciousness to another state of conscious¬ 
ness. 

“Logic is the science of proof or evidence” (Bode). 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


5 

“Psychology is the science which aims to describe and ex¬ 
plain the conduct of living creatures” (Kitson). 

Since argumentation involves communication, its principal 
instrument is the proposition. 

“A proposition is the expression of a judgment in words” 
(Bode). It is a statement that something is or is not. 

There are two kinds of propositions—propositions of theory 
and propositions of fact. 

The propositions should not be mere J tis or 'taint proposi¬ 
tions. Argumentation should never deteriorate into mere 
contentiousness. 

Contentiousness is that form of discussion in which the 
object is to dispute rather than to convince. 

Argumentation is closely related to the other forms of 
discourse. 

It is, however, far more complex and therefore far more 
difficult than narration, description, or exposition. 

The purpose of narration is to tell a story, of description 
to paint a picture, of exposition to explain a theory, method, 
or plan. 

Argumentation must not only tell, paint, and explain; it 
must also influence and persuade. 

Narration, description, or exposition may achieve their full 
purpose and still leave the human mind passive. Argumenta¬ 
tion cannot stop until it produces agreement in the human 
mind; else it fails to achieve its purpose. 

The sale is not made until the prospect's name is written 
on the dotted line. 


6 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


PART I—ANALYSIS. 

Chapter I. 

The Development of Analytical Ability. 

The element of risk characterizes every business enterprise. 

“It is often a heartbreaking undertaking to convince men 
that the perfect occasion which would lead to the perfect 
opportunity would never come even if they waited until the 
crack o’ doom.”—John D. Rockefeller. 

The wise business man recognizes risk as a factor. He 
never accepts a proposition as a “sure thing,” but always as 
a chance with an element of risk. He must guard against 
accident by systematic analysis. 

The existence of risk means simply that numerous factors 
are uncertain. Reducing risk to a minimum is accomplished 
by analysis. 

Ability in Analysis is a vital necessity to the Business Man. 

John H. Hanan, Brooklyn shoe manufacturer, says, “Forty 
years ago I was impressed with the value of analysis in Busi¬ 
ness, and that hour was the beginning of whatever success I 
have had.” 

Analysis uncovers uncertain elements and enables the busi¬ 
ness man to attack executive problems with confidence and 
assurance. 

Analysis may be defined as a process of discovering all the 
factors pertaining to a subject and of examining these factors 
as to their quantities and their relationships. Both Attentive 
Observation and Judicious Discrimination are necessary in 
analysis. Discovering, listing, enumerating factors is not suf¬ 
ficient; these factors must be co-ordinated and subordinated 
in their proper relationships. 

Innate analytical proclivities exist in varying degrees in 
different individuals. No matter to what degree these ana¬ 
lytical tendencies may be innate in an individual, they can be 
developed remarkably by systematic exercise. 

The development of power in observation depends upon 























































































































































































































































































































































8 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


the exercise of willed attention. The factors in any problem 
simply cannot be discovered unless the analyst willfully 
determines to attack it with alert, aggressive attention. 

Most people see without exercising willed attention. The 
eye has a fatal facility for perception. Without willed atten¬ 
tion the eye skips over the printed page merely following 
words and phrases as they appear. This is passive reading. 
Even when the eye meets a paragraph that is not exactly clear, 
it hastens forward, eager to perceive what comes next. If 
the student wishes to improve his power of observation, he 
must first of all cultivate and develop habits of active reading. 
Willed attention must be given to every word and phrase. 
Reading without knowing what is read is like swallowing 
food wholes—it causes indigestion. 

“To read passively is to waste one’s time. To read aright 
is to understand, to grasp with energy the author’s thought 
—in a word, it is to think. 

“The mind must pierce the curtain of words and pene¬ 
trate to the realities by vigorous effort. We must never pass 
over a phrase, a proposition, or a page the meaning of which 
we grasp only vaguely.”—Jules Payot. 

The ear also has a fatal facility for mere perception. With¬ 
out willed attention, the ear merely hears word after word 
and phrase after phrase. There is no recognition of purport. 
This is passive listening. The improvement of the power of 
observation, then, rests also upon the development of habits 
of active listening. Willed attention, in listening as well as 
in reading, must be given to every word and phrase. Passive 
listening Jireeds mental inertia. 

The most definite rules which can be given for the im¬ 
provement of the Power of Observation—the first element in 
Analysis—are: 

1. Cultivate habits of willed attention in reading. 

2. Cultivate habits of willed attention in listening. 

The second element in any analysis is Judicious Discrim¬ 
ination—the ability to recognize relationships. 



10 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


In the development of ability to discriminate it is necessary 
at the outset to discover what the possible relationships are. 

Thought relationships may be classified under two major 
divisions: 

1. External connections of thought. 

2. Mental connections of thought. 

The determinants in external connections of thought are 
the factors of Time and Place. 

In narration, ideas are connected and related according to 
the external factor of Time. 

In description, ideas are connected and related according to 
the external factor of Place. 

The determinants in mental connections of thought are the 
following: 

1. Part to the Whole. 

2. Equivalence. 

3. Comparison or Contrast. 

4. Cause to Effect. 

5. Reason to Conclusion. 

In exposition and argumentation, ideas are connected and 
related according to the relationships expressed above. 

The most definite rule which can be given for the im¬ 
provement of the Power of Discrimination—the second 
element in Analysis—is: 

1. Read Business Articles and decide upon the relation¬ 
ship of the ideas expressed according to the above classifi¬ 
cation. 

The analytical type of mind developed in the business man 
provides an instrument which reduces risk to the minimum. 
The “rule of thumb” type of mind developed in the business 
man provides an instrument which increases risk to the 


maximum. 



























12 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter II. 

The Analysis of Subject-Matter. 

The first step in the construction of a piece of argumenta¬ 
tion, whether it is a sales talk, an advertisement, or an en¬ 
gineer’s recommendation, is the Analysis of Subject-Matter. 
Here is the need for a specific application of the ability to 
analyze as defined and described in Chapter I. 

When a subject or a problem is presented, the student should 
immediately proceed to analyze the entire content of the 
subject-matter. 

Three general suggestions as to a method of procedure are: 

1. Think yourself empty. (Think out and set down 

every proposition you can discover concerning the 
subject.) 

2. Read yourself full. (Read the propositions of au¬ 

thorities on the subject. Set them down.) 

3. Think yourself empty again. (Think over what you 

have read and set down any new propositions your 
reading has suggested.) 

All of these propositions should be set down and listed on 
an Analysis Sheet. The system builder in accounting sets 
down on an Analysis Sheet every detail of information that 
he is able to discover from his examination of the books 
before he begins to relate these details and construct a new 
system. So should the student proceed. Every single propo¬ 
sition should be discovered and listed on the Analysis Sheet 
regardless of order. 

But more definite help needs to be given if hit-or-miss 
methods are to be avoided in discovering the subject-matter 
propositions. Without some fairly definite formula for dis¬ 
covery, time is wasted and important propositions are 
overlooked. 

One of. the most suggestive formulas for the discovery 
of propositions is the following series of questions. Asked 
honestly and answered faithfully, they should force from 
the student large numbers of subject-matter propositions: 



14 


business argumentation 


1. Is there any need for a change? 

2. What are the causes of the need ? 

3. What are the possible remedies? 

4. Theoretically, how should each of the remedies work 

out? 

5. Practically, how has each remedy worked where it 

has been tried ? 

A two-fold point of view—both affirmative and negative— 
should be maintained throughout. 

With the possible propositions spread out on the Analysis 
Sheet, the second part of the Analysis should be begun— 
the determination of the various relationships between the 
propositions. 

These relationships can best be determined and recorded 
by constructing a Brief. 

A Brief is a record of the arrangement and classification 
of both the affirmative and negative subject-matter propo¬ 
sitions. It is a final record of a complete analysis. 

The two principal processes involved in brief-making are 
co-ordination and subordination. Propositions of equal im¬ 
portance must be given positions of equal importance in the 
Brief, and propositions of unequal importance must be 
properly subordinated in position. 

The principal rules for Brief-making are as follows: 

I. A Brief should be divided into three parts marked 
Introduction, Development, and Conclusion. 

II. The Introduction should consist of the necessary 
expository propositions. It should include 

1. The Situation, involving the history and origin of 

the question. 

2. Definition of terms. 

3. The elimination of 

a) admitted propositions. 

b) extraneous propositions. 

4. The Statement of the Specific Issues. 

III. The Development should consist of all the available 
argumentative propositions. 









H 


















16 


business argumentation 


IV. Each heading in the Development should be in the 
form of a proposition, not of a topic merely. 

V. Every principal heading should be a proposition of 
theory, supported by propositions of fact. The Develop¬ 
ment should be made coherent by the use of correct con¬ 
nectives such as: because, for, and since. 

VI. The relation of the propositions in the development 
should be indicated by indentation and by a uniform system 
of symbols. 

I. 

A. 

1 . 

a. 

( 1 ) . 

(a) . 

VII. Each main proposition should be supported by 
subordinate propositions until the sufficiency of its truth 
is apparent. 

IX. The conclusion should consist of a restatement of 
the principal argumentative propositions used in the 
development. 


Specimen Brief. 

Foreign Trade for the B-J Company. 

Introduction. 

I. Origin and History of the Problem. 

1. The B-J Co. needs an enlarged market. 

(a) It has a restricted local market—it already controls 
a good portion of the maximum available business 
in U. S. 

(b) It has an excess production capacity—due to ex¬ 
tension of facilities to meet war-time necessities, now 
passed. 

(c) It has surplus resources; both the finances of the 
company and available sources of raw material are 
sufficient for larger expansion. 

2. The B-J Co. has always led its field and seeks oppor¬ 

tunity to move in newer directions of leadership. 










18 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


3. Other concerns, in a situation somewhat similar, are 
turning to foreign trade. Shall we do the same 5 
II. Main Issues. 

1. Is there a sufficient potential demand abroad for our 

product to warrant our effort? 

2. Are sufficient facilities aA^ailable to enable us to develop 

such business? 

3. What will be the cost? 

4. Can we make a definite test of the suggestion in a spe¬ 

cific case? 

5. Is the probability of success sufficient to offset the risks 

involved in the undertaking? 

Development. 

I. Foreign trade offers us a desirable opportunity for develop¬ 
ing new outlets, for 

A. There is sufficient demand abroad for B-J goods to war¬ 

rant our effort, for 

1. We have already received inquiries from export 

houses and from foreign customers. 

2. Trade magazines urge opportunities in foreign trade. 

3. Reports from Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com¬ 

merce, bankers, and others having representatives in 
the foreign field indicate large potential demand. 

B. Sufficient facilities are available to develop such busi¬ 

ness profitably, for 

1. Manufacturing facilities are already at hand. 

2. Banking connections assure co-operation in financing 

business, and minimizing credit risk. 

3. Low production costs and patent rights already reg¬ 

istered abroad give B-J product every advantage in 
foreign markets. 

4. Advertising agencies, banks, and export magazines 

will furnish lists of desirable dealers and customers, 
marketing and shipping requirements for individual 
countries, translating and advertising service—writ¬ 
ing service and other assistance in sales building. 

5. We already have on the sales staff a man experienced 

in organizing and handling export campaigns. 

C. Foreign Trade is a desirable sort of business, for 

1. Foreign distribution helps spread out the business 
risk—if unfavorable conditions arise in this coun¬ 
try, foreign distribution can be relied upon as off¬ 
set. 


























































































































































































) 










































































































































































































20 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


2. Foreign trade is patriotic—and meets every encour¬ 
agement from U. S. Government. 

II. The cost ratio in handling foreign business would not be 

serious, for 

A. Detailed estimate of sales and other costs, with per¬ 

centage of possible profit show this. 

B. Proposed arrangements for financing are well worked 

out, for 

1. The necessary arrangements for financing have been 

examined. 

2. Business methods abroad have been analyzed, for 

(a) Methods of collection and payment have been 
classified. 

(b) The tariff requirements have been classified. 

(c) The practice of licensing salesmen has been in¬ 
vestigated. 

(d) Commissions to be allowed have been estimated. 

III. The following outline of a tryout campaign in Cuba of¬ 

fers an opportunity of a definite test of the suggestion, 
for 

A. Cuba offers the largest immediate opportunity, because 

1. Proximity—It can be reached by water or by rail 

and water. The man travelling southern states can 
also make Cuba. 

2. The Cuban mind is receptive toward American made 

goods. 

3. During the year ending December 31, 1918, 557 

trucks, valued at $1,109,368.00, were imported. This 
is almost 50% of the total amount of trucks im¬ 
ported by all South American countries, and is an 
indication of the potential truck market in Cuba. 

4. The recent railroad strikes in Cuba have demon¬ 

strated very clearly the value of motor trucks as 
a means of transportation. In fact, these strikes 
have advertised motor trucks far better than any 
active advertising campaign could have done. 

5. There are many large towns in Cuba, and the trucks 

are needed for quick, economical connection. 

B. The plan for Cuba is, in detail, this: 

1. Obtain from bankers lists of reliable houses selling 
motor trucks, with name of truck handled by each 
house. 



22 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


2. Select from this list names of firms not handling 

competitive trucks. 

3. Send to the bank for credit information on names 

selected as possible agents. 

4. Send sales manager to Cuba for first-hand survey of 

territory. 

5. Determine from sales manager's findings— 

(a) The plan of sale. 

Shall the company open its own office? 

Shall it give representation to some local house? 
Shall it sell direct? 

Advantages and disadvantages of these plans. 

(b) The plan of advertising. 

(c) The plan of financing. 

(d) The plan of delivery. 

IV. The probability of success is sufficient to warrant every 
element of credit or other risk involved, for 

A. Large risks are being assumed in domestic business 

every day. 

B. If it is objected that “B-J produce cannot be sold 

abroad,” the reply is that other products of like kind 
are now being sold abroad. 

C. If it is objected that “B-J product cannot compete with 

that manufactured locally and shipped from nearer 
points or from countries where labor and other costs 
are less,” the reply is that B-J product is a quality 
product. Buyers in the United States pay more for 
B-J product in order to get B-J quality. Foreign 
buyers will do the same. 

D. If it is objected that “You don’t know whom you are 

selling in foreign trade,” the reply is that international 
banks can furnish reliable and accurate credit infor¬ 
mation on foreign buyers. 

E. If it is objected that “long credit terms cannot be 

met,” the answer is that banking facilities which are 
designed to enable the manufacturer to meet such 
terms are available. 

F. It is reasonable to expect that the B-J Co. can make a 

success in foreign trade, for 

1. The company has made domestic success. 

2. Foreign trade is fundamentally the same as domes¬ 

tic business, and the principles of success are simi¬ 
lar. 






24 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Conclusion. 

Since, foreign trade offers us a desirable opportunity for de¬ 
veloping new outlets, and sufficient facilities are avail¬ 
able to develop such business profitably, and the cost 
ratio in handling foreign business would not be seri- 
out; and because the outline of a tryout campaign in 
Cuba offers an opportunity of success sufficient to war¬ 
rant every element of credit or other risk involved, 
Therefore, the B-J Company should go in for foreign trade. 
(Adapted from a brief constructed by J. R. Wilson, p. 439, 
Talking Business —Clapp.) 




26 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter III. 

The Analysis of Purpose—Phrasing the Resolution. 

With the brief completed, the whole subject-matter is spread 
out in its logical relationships. The next step, then, is to de¬ 
termine the purpose of the speaker or writer in a particular 
argumentative situation. 

The definite and specific response desired from a particular 
audience should be chosen. 

Ordinarily, one of the following purposes may be selected: 

1. Observe. 

2. Perceive Clearly. 

3. Think this Over. 

4. Accept this Statement. 

5. Renew Your Belief. 

6. Strengthen Your Determination. 

7. Change Your Mind. 

8. Reverse Your Attitude. 

9. Prepare Yourself for Action. 

10. Ally Yourself. 

11. Take an Active Part. 

12. Subscribe. 

13. Join. 

14. Buv. 

15. Pay. 

16. Vote. 

17. Go. 

18. Give. 

19. Give Everything. 

20. Die if Need Be. 

A purpose sentence should be constructed, the use of which 
will keep the specific purpose of the speaker or writer in the 
mind of the audience. 

A purpose sentence is a specific statement of what is wanted 
with a general statement of why it is wanted. 

Effectiveness in the use of the purpose sentence will depend 
upon its frequent repetition in the presentation. 




























28 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


The purpose sentence should be presented after the estab¬ 
lishment of each principal specific proposition as sufficiently 
true to warrant acceptance. The effectiveness of the direct 
command and the slogan in advertising is sufficient testimony 
to the value of the use of a purpose sentence. 

Even in formal debate, where the opposition is present and 
is heard, the purpose sentence should certainly be used by 
the disputants. However, in debate—a highly specialized 
form of argumentation—it is necessary to have some super¬ 
proposition or resolution upon which both parties can agree 
and concerning which they can debate. 

Phrasing the resolution requires precision and care, if the 
debate is not to degenerate into a quibble concerning the 
meaning of the terms. 

The resolution should mean exactly what is wished to 
debate. It should include the whole matter at issue—nothing 
more and nothing less. 

A resolution for debate should always be constructed with 
the following requirements in mind: 

1. It should be actually debatable—evenly balanced. 

2. It should be worded without ambiguity. 

3. It should involve one single proposal. 

4. It should place the burden of proof upon the affirma¬ 

tive. 

5. It should be timely and vital. 

6. It should be phrased briefly, clearly, concisely. 

7. It should be stated in unprejudiced terms. 



30 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


PART II—SYNTHESIS. 

Chapter I. 

Constructing the Argument. 

The problem of constructing the argument —the actual 
running discourse—involves: 

1. The selection of the propositions to be presented. 

2. The arrangement of the selected propositions. 

3. The development of the selected propositions. 

From the available propositions spread out in their logical 
relationships in the Brief, the particular propositions to be 
presented should be selected. Those propositions should be 
selected which seem to strike with the most force, individu¬ 
ally and collectively, at the particular audience to be addressed. 
The entire group of propositions as they stand in the Brief 
should not be presented to every audience. A salesman does 
not present his entire supply of talking points to each and 
every prospect. He bases his selection on the kind of prospect 
he is addressing. This principle of audience adaptation has 
long been recognized in selling. 

The problem of selection will also be dependent upon the 
actual time allotted to the speech or the space-limit set for 
the article. 

The whole matter of the selection of the propositions is 
conditioned by the occasion, the audience, and the situation. 

The arrangement of the selected propositions is the next 
step. One certain method of arrangement will not be equally 
effective in addressing all audiences. The principle of 
audience adaptation must be used again. 

The following rules for presenting an effective arrangement 
to a particular audience will be found helpful. 

1. When the audience is likely to receive the purpose 
sentence with hostility, use the Order of Acceptability. 

(Present first those propositions toward which the audience 
will be the least hostile.) 




























32 


business argumentation 


2. When the audience is likely to receive the purpose 
sentence with absolute agreement, use the Climatic Order,. 

(The Order of Increasing Importance.) 

3. When the audience is likely to receive the purpose 

sentence with consideration, use the Logical Order. (Need, 

Cause, Remedy, Theory, Practice.) 

The hostile audience should not be antagonized at the 
beginning. It should be led gradually to the consideration of 
the propositions with which disagreement is great. The 
Order of Acceptability is necessary. 

The accepting audience likes to have its faith, its belief, 
intensified. To start with the strongest point would mean a 
decrease of interest as the argument proceeded. The 
Climatic Order is necessary. 

The considering audience likes to have all the propositions 
spread before it in logical order. It likes to be able to ex¬ 
amine every step toward the conclusion it is asked to accept. 
The Logical Order is necessary. 

The development of the various propositions that have been 
selected and arranged for presentation is the next step. This 
involves constructing the filling-in process—the proof. 

Propositions are established as sufficiently true to warrant 
acceptance by Reasoning with the audience. 

Reasoning is a process of presenting fact (Evidence) and 
suggestion (Inference) for the purpose of securing mental 
assent to a proposition as true. 

The Material of Reasoning, and consequently the Material 
of Development, is: (1) evidence, and (2) inference . 

Evidence is fact—raw data. 

Inference is the mental process of going over from raw 
data to a conclusion. In reasoning, the inference process is 
usually represented by sentences suggesting that a conclusion 
be drawn from the evidence presented. 









































34 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


The nature of reasoning can be understood easily bv a 
careful examination of the following paragraph: 

(1) The U. S. is far from being all-sufficient unto herself, 
independent of the trade of the rest of the world. (2) An 
impartial examination of the facts can lead to no other con¬ 
clusion. (3) Of total exports of $113,000,000 worth of 
meats during the year 1922, Europe bought $97,000,000.. 
(4) Of total wheat exports of less than $280,000,000 Eu¬ 
rope bought $210,000,000; of $160,000,000 corn exports, 
Europe bought $58,000,000; of floilr exports of $97,000,000, 
Europe bought $55,000,000. (5) And yet it is said that the 

U. S. is independent and self-sufficient. (6) Of total cotton 
exports of $596,000,000, Europe bought $490,000,000; of 
total tobacco exports of $157,000,000, Europe bought 
$129,000,000. (7) Surely it is evident that the U. S. does 

not exist isolated and alone. (8) Of total refined sugar ex¬ 
ports of $77,000,000, Europe bought $62,000,000; of 
$10,000,000 exports of prunes, Europe bought $8,000,000; 
of total exports of gasoline of $117,000,000, Europe bought 
$74,000,000. (9) What have we to do with Europe? (10) 

These figures supply at least a part of the answer, do they 
not? 

An analysis of the above example of reasoning will show 
that both evidence and inference is present. 

Sentence No. 1 is the conclusion to be accepted. 

Sentences Nos. 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, are inference sentences. 

Sentences Nos. 3, 4, 6, 8, are evidence sentences. 



36 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter II. 

Inference. 

Inference is a mental process involving a going over from 
raw data (evidence) to a conclusion. 

Inference movement in reasoning may proceed in one ot 
or both of the following ways, 

(1) Inductive Movement. 

(2) Deductive Movement. 

Inductive inference movement is proceeding from specific 
facts to a general conclusion. 

“If the salesman can show that this, that and the other busi¬ 
ness man belonging to a certain class has found it desirable to 
use in his business the article offered for sale, he arrives 
inductively to the general principle or conception, that the 
article will be found profitable by all men of that class.” 
(Geo. R. Eastman, The Psychology of Salesmanship.) 

Deductive inference movement is proceeding from a general 
conclusion to a particular conclusion with reference to a 
specific fact. 

“The salesman can apply deductively the general principle 
thus established inductively. He does so if he convinces the 
man that he is soliciting, that circumstances, conditions and 
methods, of his business will rightly bring him under the 
general class of profitable users. If the customer is con¬ 
vinced of this, he will conclude that what has proved profit¬ 
able to others similarly situated will also prove profitable 
to him. His belief is founded on his acceptance of the 
truthfulness and validity on which the general principle of 
profitableness was established and the conviction that the cir¬ 
cumstances in which he finds himself will rightly put him in 
the class of profitable users.” (Geo. R. Eastman, The 
Psychology of Salesmanship.) 

Inductive inference movement is based upon an assumption 
that what is true of several members of a class is true of 
the class as a whole. 

Inductive inference movement may be made clear by the 
following outline of the process: 





























































































































































































































































38 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


I. Assumption —what is true of several members of a 
class is true of the class as a whole. 


II. Facts. 


(a) The A National 
savings accounts. 

(b) The B National 
savings accounts. 

(c) The C National 
savings accounts. 

(d) The D National 
savings accounts. 


Bank 

pays 

4% 

interest 

on 

Bank 

pays 

4% 

interest 

on 

Bank 

pays 

4% 

interest 

on 

Bank 

pays 

4% 

interest 

on 


III. Conclusion —All National Banks pay 4% on savings 
accounts. 


The strength and validity of the inductive inference 
movement, then, depends upon the readiness or unreadiness 
with which an individual allows his mind to jump to con¬ 
clusions from a few observed facts. Perfection in inductive 
inference is approached when the individual refuses to accept 
the conclusion until at least a majority of the cases has been 
observed. 

Notice the attempted inductive inference movement in the 
following advertisement: 

“More than 107,700 motor trucks are now registered in 
the New England States, according to a canvass made by 
the Boston News Bureau. This represents an increase of 
more than 11,000 or 11.4% over the number in use this time 
last year. 

“There are, however, the canvass shows, more than 5 1/2 
times as many passenger cars as trucks in New England. 
The gain in this class of vehicle compared with 1920 is 
nearly 97,000 or 19.5%. 

“This is concrete proof that the New England consumer 
is spending money. The fact that the gain in the sale of 
passenger cars is 8.1% more than that of the trucks is alone 
a criterion of the prosperity prevailing in this territory. 

“To get your share of New England’s business during 
1922 use the home daily newspapers; they cover the market 
thoroughly.” (Printers’ Ink, Feb. 9, 1922.) 



40 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


In the paragraph quoted above, the two bits of fact, the 
gain in the sale of auto trucks and in the sale of passenger 
cars, are both facts of the same class. They can be accepted 
as true because the survey conducted by the Boston News 
Bureau established them so. The validity of the inference 
movement is questionable since scarcely enough facts have 
been presented to warrant the general conclusion that pros¬ 
perity is prevalent in New England. 

Deductive inference movement may be made clear by the 
following outline of the process: 

I. Major Premise —All successful business enterprises 

have had a definite constructive business policy. 

II. Minor Premise —The Golden Company is a successful 

business enterprise. 

III. Conclusion —The Golden Company has a definite 

constructive business policy. 

The process as expressed above is called by the logician 
the syllogism. 

The validity of the deductive inference movement depends 
upon the construction of a valid syllogism. 

The principal rules for the construction of a valid syllogism 
are: 

1. A syllogism must contain three terms and only three 

terms. 

2. A syllogism must consist of three propositions and 

only three propositions. 

3. A middle term of a syllogism must be distributed; 

that is, taken universally, or in its whole extent of 

meaning, once at least in the premises. 

4. No term may be distributed in the conclusion unless 

it is distributed in the premises. 

5. From two negative premises nothing can be inferred. 

6. If one premise be negative, the conclusion must be 

negative. 

Notice the attempted deductive inference movement in the 
following advertisement: 




. 






























































(tf* : 





































42 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


“Starting a Big Year in a Big Way.” 

“The rise of Farm Life to one of the top positions among 
national farm publications is a result of the consistent ap¬ 
plication of sound advertising to a selling problem quite like 
yours. 

“Farm Life has acquired its more than 850,000 readers 
largely by the liberal use of advertising. These readers have 
made Farm Life advertising space pull—made it one of the 
best advertising purchases on the market. 

“Advertising, too, has told advertisers of the value of 
Farm Life as a medium, and as advertising increased Farm 
Life’s income, the publication has been constantly improved. 

“For Farm Life advertising is transforming a period of 
general complaint and pessimism into one of progress and 
growth. 

“We take our own medicine and it works! 

“Farm Life is the country’s fastest growing, most vital 
farm paper. 

“The March 1922 issue of Farm Life will show a 25% 
increase in lineage over the corresponding issue of 1921. It 
is larger by 16 pages. 

“The February 1922 issue equalled in the number of pages 
printed the greatest issue that Farm Life ever published. In 
advertising revenue it exceeds all other issues by 15%. 

“In dollars and cents Farm Life’s 1921 business was 5% 
greater than its business during the boom year of 1920. 

“Hard Times? There are none in the Farm Life office. 
And the reason is found in the remarkable pulling power of 
Farm Life advertising. It gives you the country’s greatest 
value for your advertising dollar. The circulation is more 
than 850,000 distributed evenly in every agricultural neigh¬ 
borhood.” ( Printers' Ink, Feb. 9, 1922.) 

The strength and validity of the deductive inference 
movement depends upon bringing the specific case under 
consideration within the class about which the general con¬ 
clusion asserts a truth. In the advertisement quoted above 
particular pains are taken to show that Farm Life comes in 
the class of rapidly growing agricultural papers and that it 
is “Starting a Big Year in a Big Way”—the general assump¬ 
tion being that the leaders among the national farm papers 
are good advertising media. 




44 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter III. 

Evidence. 

Evidence is any proposition of fact from which a 
conclusion may be inferred. It is the raw data from which 
the proposition of theory may be inferred. 

There are two kinds of inference: 

1. Experience. 

2. Testimony. 

Evidence from actual human experience is raw data or fact 
obtained from observation and memory. It is likely to be 
stronger than evidence from testimony, since actual human 
experience is usually surrounded by a feeling or emotion in 
some degree. 

Evidence from testimony is raw data or fact obtained from 
third parties or some authority. It is the fact material ob¬ 
tained by interview, by reading research reports, books, the 
reports of investigating commissions, etc. 

The salesman uses evidence from experience when he 
supports his theoretical talking points by actual demonstra¬ 
tion of the article before the prospect. When the prospect 
handles and tries the product for himself, the salesman is 
able to direct an inference from evidence that is particularly 
strong— evidence from experience. 

The salesman uses evidence from testimony when he quotes 
the words of actual users as supporting his theoretical talking 
points. When the prospect is shown the testimony of a 
chemist, an engineer, or some other impartial investigator, he 
is using evidence from testimony. 

The court classifies evidence as Direct and Indirect 
(Circumstantial). This classification is nothing but the 
classification given above— evidence from experience and 
evidence from testimony. 

Evidence from experience may be made effective by making 
it vivid. 

Experiences will be vivid in the degree that they are: 

1. Originally intense. 













































































46 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


2. Frequently experienced. 

3. Frequently recollected. 

4. Recently experienced. 

Evidence from testimony may be made effective by applying 
to such evidence the test of consistency. Only such testimonial 
evidence should be used as has 

1. Internal consistency. 

2. External consistency. 

Testimonial evidence is inconsistent internally when it 
contains one or more of the following inconsistencies: 

1. An undersigned admission. 

2. A frank concession. 

3. A misstatement. 

Testimonial evidence is inconsistent externally when: 

1. It is inconsistent with general knowledge derived 

from experience. 

2. It is inconsistent with individual statements in other 

pieces of testimonial evidence. 

The following paragraph contains an illustration of evi¬ 
dence from experience: 

“But just beyond the wall of 'No,’ in all of us, is the fair, 
free land of ‘Yes,’ which is veritably Towing with milk and 
honey,’ not only for the salesman who enters it, but for the 
customer who meets him there on the common ground of 
mutual interest. 

“Service is the biggest, highest, best word in modern sell¬ 
ing; but neither the manufacturer nor the salesman, even 
though they may have the best product and the best inten¬ 
tions in the world, can serve the prospective buyer unless the 
latter’s habitual ‘No’—which does not mean any more, in 
many instances, than the mechanical ‘mamma’ of a talking 
doll—gives place to a convinced and satisfied ‘Yes.’ 

“Where would the world be today, the ‘whole kit and ka- 
boodle of us,’ if it had not been for the world's salesmen? 
Or if the salesmen of the world always had taken ‘No’ for 
an answer? 

“We all recognize, sellers and buyers alike, when we stop 



48 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


to think it through, that the familiar comforts and con¬ 
veniences of life, which so many of us enjoy over on this 
side of the water, have been sold to us. That we owe their 
possession and all the pleasure they give us to salesmanship. 

“Ordinarily, we don't buy automobiles or talking machines 
or open plumbing or summer vacations. They are sold to us. 

“Even when we seek out the salesman and tell him what 
we want, the thing we think we are buying ‘on our own’ has 
been sold to us just the same—sold to us through printed 
or word-of-mouth advertising, or because, ‘everybody’s doin’ 
it, doin’ it.’ 

“It’s just the same way with reforms, and the other 
changes in political, social, civic and religious affairs. 

“Such changes don’t come about by spontaneous combus¬ 
tion. 

“The world doesn’t wait until it gets good and ready to 
kick over a throne or roll hoop with a crown, and then 
suddenly rise up all at once some fine morning and go and 
do it. 

“Not on your William Lloyd Garrisons, and your Har¬ 
riet Beecher Stowes, and your Susan B. Anthonys, and your 
Abraham Lincolns. 

“Somebody always up and sells us on the new idea, the bet¬ 
ter order of things. 

“And we all know that usually these salesmen have a 
darned hard time of it, and have to jump over or climb over 
or hew their way through a formidable succession of delays, 
and negatives, and fool objections on our part. 

“They have a burning desire to persuade us to see things 
as they see them and to do as they are convinced we ought 
to do. 

“Indeed, they are apt to put it more strongly than that— 
we all do when we are in earnest. 

“They’re likely to say—these leaders and reformers of 
ours—in words very similar to those to which my friend 
objects to in the ‘Science of Selling,’ that they’re going to 
‘make people do as they want them to do—to think as they 
want them to think.’ ” ( How to Sell and What.) 

The following paragraph contains an illustration of evi¬ 
dence from testimony: 

“Every Householder should adopt and use a Budget Sys¬ 
tem.” 














































































































50 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


“Obviously with such a system in operation, you could con¬ 
trol your light bill. Obviously, too, if you could apply to all 
your household expenditures the same plan of pre-establish¬ 
ing limits and then metering expense against elapsed time 
in order to see to it that those limits were not exceeded you 
could control the financial outgo of your whole domestic es¬ 
tablishment. 

“By such a plan of budgeting expense and then metering 
outgo against time to see to it that the limits are not ex¬ 
ceeded, the firm of Abraham & Straus, Incorporated, of 
Brooklyn, controls the operating expense of a big department. 

“ 'At first/ says B. J. Conroy, comptroller of Abraham & 
Straus, ‘we believed that the budget alone was enough. We 
thought that if we merely pre-established the limits of ex¬ 
pense the moral effect of that action would hold us within 
the limits. And so, every so often, we held a meeting at 
which we received the estimates of expense from the various 
departments and from them established the limits. Then 
after the meeting, business went on as usual until the end 
of the period for which we had budgeted the expense. 
When the returns came in we found that the figures didn't 
jibe. Always, it seemed, the actual expenditures exceeded 
the budgeted estimates. 

“ ‘What was lacking, you see, was constant supervision and 
constant control. Moral effect wasn’t enough; and it wasn’t 
enough, principally, because, while everybody tried to keep 
within his limit, nobody knew as he went along whether he 
was keeping within the limit or not. We were willing, but 
blind. Necessity forced us to adopt some expedient by which 
we could see, some method of measuring expense while the 
money was being spent and then comparing the measure¬ 
ments with the pre-determined limits. 

“ ‘We devised that method. We still budget and we budget 
into considerable detail. But in addition, we supervise and 
control expense—watch and regulate the money as it’s going 
out. And we’re getting results. While our business has 
been increasing we have been reducing expense. Our method 
isn’t perfect, of course, but we’re bringing it nearer and 
nearer to perfection; and right now we are able to pre-es¬ 
tablish our limits and then hold within those limits so closely 
that our budget figures frequently coincide with our actual 
expenditures within the margin of one-half of one per cent.’ ” 



52 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter IV. 

Motive Reasoning. 

The lowest and simplest form of reasoning is motive 
reasoning. It is reasoning which calls for a minimum of 
reflection. It differs from other types of reasoning in that 
each step is uncritical, and in that the whole process is based 
upon the presentation of evidence from experience. Its 
strength lies in the fact that it impresses because it comes 
into the actual experience of the reader or hearer. 

Motive reasoning may be defined as a reasoning process 
that attempts to present experiences that will suggest im¬ 
mediate inferences along the lines of innate or habitual action 
tendencies. 

The seller uses motive reasoning (commonly called the 
emotional appeal) to present to the prospect experiences that 
will make his mind, on the inside, down deep, go through 
quick chains of inference that bring a quick conclusion, hasty 
and uncritical, biased, personal-emotional. There is a prompt 
and unreflecting response. 

The procedure in motive reasoning is about as follows: 
A universal experience is cited and pictured in words in such 
a way as to arouse feeling and emotion. The suggestion 
to action is given—in the direction set by the innate action- 
tendencies (Appetites and Instincts) or by the acquired action- 
tendencies (the Habits). 

The effectiveness of this type of reasoning depends upon 
what experiences are presented, how they are presented, and 
how well the inference is directed along the action grooves. 

Since evidence from experience makes up the bulk of this 
type of reasoning, the effective presentation of this experience 
is most important. Suggestions have been given in Chapter 
III with reference to the selection of the most vivid kinds 
of evidence from experience. Additional suggestions should 
be given, for the effective presentation of such evidence. 
































































































































* 















































































































































































































54 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


General rules for the effective presentation of experience 
in motive reasoning are: 

1. Use a number of images. 

2. Use a variety of images. 

3. Use more visual images than any other kind. 

4. Make the images concrete and clear by avoiding 

general descriptive words. 

5. Use images which call up pleasurable feelings in their 

train. 

An example of a selling appeal which carries out these rules 
very well is given below. It has a number of varied images, 
but the visual images predominate. Its images are clear and 
sharp, and they call up pleasurable feelings. 

‘‘The Jordan Playboy is ready. A spiritual companion for 
a wonderful girl and a wonderful boy. It’s a shame to call 
it a Roadster, so full is this brawny, graceful thing with 
the vigor of boyhood and morning. It carries two pas¬ 
sengers—three if they’re friendly—to the place you have al¬ 
ways longed to go. It revels along with the wandering wind 
and roars like a Caproni biplane. It’s a car for a man’s 
man, that's certain. Or for a girl who loves the out-of-doors. 
It’s true—there’s some of the tang of that rare old English 
ale that was brewed from the smiles of youth and old box¬ 
ing gloves. How did we happen to think of it? Why a girl 
who can swim and paddle and shoot described it to a boy 
who loves the roar of the cut-out. We built one and slipped 
away from the quiet zone and stepped on it, and the dogs 
barked—and boys stopped to cheer. And people we passed 
stopped and looked back—and we were boys again. The 
Playboy is built in limited numbers—frankly, because we love 
to do it.” ( Printers' Ink, April 17, 1919.) 

There is very little expressed inference in motive reasoning. 
What suggestion is offered should, as far as possible, point 
toward the innate and acquired action pathways. 

The principal innate action tendencies are: 

1. The Appetites. 

2. The Instincts. 









I 








4 
















56 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


The Appetites are: 

1. Hunger. 

2. Thirst. 

3. Sleep. 

4. Sex. 

The principal instinct tendencies are: 

1. Fear. 

2. Anger. 

3. Hunting. 

4. Acquisitiveness. 

5. Curiosity. 

6. Gregariousness. 

7. Courtship. 

8. Self-display. 

9. Parental. 

10. Play. 

11. Experimentation. 

12. Imitation. 

13. Sympathy. 

14. Suggestibility. 

The following comment shows how inference based on 
innate tendencies is effective: 

“In the food field, health value and cleanliness were con¬ 
sidered in the early history of advertising sufficient buying 
motives for many products to make the basis of their ap¬ 
peal. But even among the prepared breakfast foods, which 
were long considered almost wholly in the light of health 
food, the contrary has proved true. Kellogg’s Corn Flakes— 
one product which has featured taste strongly from the be¬ 
ginning—has also been the product which from the begin¬ 
ning has been one of the biggest and most continuous suc¬ 
cesses in the field. As for food-product advertising in gen¬ 
eral, it has come to the taste appeal as universally as the 
clothing advertising has come to the style appeal. 

“Moreover, the motive that experience has shown to be 
the ultimate buying motive in the clothing and food fields 
was entirely susceptible of being arrived at by analysis and 
without all the experimenting, had the advertiser realized 



































































































































































































































































































58 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


from the beginning the importance of using only the ulti¬ 
mate buying motive as a basis of appeal. Although from a 
practical point of view, clothing does protect and warm, from 
the time the first sentiment of modesty led to the adoption 
of the fig-leaf, clothing has always been most closely associ¬ 
ated—not with that which is practical, but with sentiment, 
Throughout human history clothing has been put on, or taken 
off, or changed because of modesty, humility, vanity or some 
other sentimental reason. Style, therefore, with its appeal 
to sentiment of pride and vanity, is an appeal to the mo. t 
basic human instinct in regard to clothes. 

“Again, although we may realize indirectly that we eat in 
order to build up our bodies, the real and direct reason why 
we eat is to satisfy the sensation of hunger and the sensation 
of taste.” (Olds, Marshall. “Can Advertising Stick to 
Fundamental Motives?” Printers' Ink, May 12, 1920.) 

Inference in motive reasoning —an endeavor to induce action 
without deliberation and discrimination must be based on an 
innate action tendency if it is to approach maximum effective¬ 
ness. It must fit in with something the man inherently wants 
to do. Read the following advertisement and note how care¬ 
fully the action suggestion moves along the lines of an appetite 
tendency. 

“Appealing to Eye and Appetite.” 

“Steak, thick and succulent, gravy oozing out of its brown¬ 
ness—green of parsley all around it, little pieces of lemon 
placed daintily at each end— 

“And strewn across it, M & G Potato Flakes, golden 
brown, each as large as half your palm, with crispy, curly 
edges. 

“Try this dish. You will find each flavor enhances the 
other. 

“M & G's are sold at your grocer's.” ( Printers' Ink, Julv 
29, 1920.) 

Inference may also point in the direction of habitual action 
tendencies. When the salesman's suggestion proceeds along 
the line of the prospect’s habitual actions, the prospect finds 
it easy to accept the suggestion and act. 

Every buying habit, no matter how trivial, should be taken 



60 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


into consideration by sellers. If action is suggested along the 
lines of these habits, the response is immediate and sure. 
Such a habit as unusual Saturday afternoon spending— 
because Saturday is the customary time for the payment of 
wages—is worth considering and using in the suggestion to 
purchase. Too often sellers seem to think of buying habits 
with the idea of changing them or establishing new ones, 
rather than with discovering how they can tie up their ap¬ 
peals more definitely with habitual tendencies already firml\ 
established. 

Motive reasoning should be used principally in addressing 
an audience that is somewhat accepting. Any audience that 
partially agrees with the purpose sentence simply needs to 
have its beliefs strengthened. This can best be accomplished 
by using motive reasoning. 

Motive reasoning should be used also in developing indi¬ 
vidual propositions that are likely to be received with 
agreement by the audience. 















\ 




























\ 




























































































. 












































































62 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter V. 

Testimonial Reasoning. 

Testimonial reasoning is a more complex form of reasoning 
than motive reasoning. It may require a certain amount of 
reflection. It differs from the other types of reasoning in 
that it may be critical or uncritical and in that the whole 
process is based upon the presentation of evidence from testi¬ 
mony. Its strength lies in the fact that it refers the disputed 
issues to the experience and judgment of authorities whom 
the audience recognize as being fit to testify. 

Testimonial reasoning may be defined as a reasoning process 
that attempts to present testimonial evidence and suggests that 
a certain conclusion should be inferred somewhat cautiously. 

The seller uses testimonial reasoning when he presents 
testimonial evidence of various kinds as to the merits of the 
product offered for sale and suggests a purchase on the basis 
of such evidence. He attempts to make the prospect come 
to a decision and make a judgment upon the experience of 
others in lieu of his own. 

The following paragraph is an illustration of testimonial 
reasoning used to persuade others: 

“A minimum wage law will make for inefficiency among 
the workers. Testifying before the Industrial Relations 
Commission in Portland concerning the effect of the mini¬ 
mum wage for women, the employers of over three thou¬ 
sand girls said: ‘There has been no increased efficiency.’ 
Last year the American Chamber of Commerce sent a com¬ 
mittee to Australia. After making an extended investigation, 
they reported, ‘The minimum wage instead of making men 
more efficient is serving to make New Zealand and Australia 
breeding countries of loafers and idlers.’ Professor Fitch, 
of the University of Iowa, who returned from Australia last 
fall after an independent tour of investigation said, ‘The prin¬ 
cipal defect I found there was that the workmen do inferior 
work and less of it.’ Mr. Aves, an expert of the English 
Trades Board, who was sent by the British Government to 
Australia and New Zealand to study conditions, reported to 





64 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Parliament as follows: ‘I think the evidence is conclusive that 
present conditions are tending, so far as workers are concerned 
and over a wide field, toward lower efficiency.’ Our own gov¬ 
ernment sent an expert, Dr. Victor S. Clark, to study the 
working of the minimum wage in Australia. In the report 
he says, ‘It is practically the unanimous testimony of em¬ 
ployers that their men do not work so well under the mini¬ 
mum wage as before.’ In the face of the testimony of these 
numerous and independent investigators, every one expert and 
capable, can it be doubted that the minimum wage will make 
for lessened efficiency among the workers?” 

(From the speech of a debater representing Macalester Col¬ 
lege, St. Paul, Minnesota, in a debate on the Minimum Wage, 
against a team representing St. Olaf College, Northfield, 
Minnesota—College Debate—1916.) 

The first sentence is undoubtedly the topic proposition— 
the conclusion that the audience is asked to accept. The last 
sentence is inference, and the remaining sentences are largely 
concerned with presenting the testimonial evidence. There 
are bits of inference in the statements concerning the in¬ 
dividuals who provide the testimony. The large amount of 
evidence and the relatively small amount of inference is 
characteristic of this type of reasoning. The effort is made 
to present cautious and critical reasoning. The aim should 
be to make the inference easy and natural. 

The effectiveness of this type of reasoning depends upon 
making the inference inescapable and presenting only con¬ 
sistent testimonial evidence. 

Since evidence from testimony makes up the bulk of this 
type of reasoning, the effective presentation of this testimony 
is extremely important. The necessity for the selection of 
consistent evidence has been pointed out in Chapt. III. 

Testimonial evidence may be presented directly or indi¬ 
rectly. Direct words of authorities may be used or indirect 
statements of endorsement. The first method is the simple 
reproduction of verbatim testimony. It may be in the words 
of a user or of an impartial third party investigator. The 



I 


66 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


second method is the indirect compilation or summarization 
of endorsements by customers or impartial investigators. 

Whenever possible, use the exact words of the testifier. 
Exact quotations make a living personality seem to stand 
behind them. There is a sort of intimacy of detail and 
obvious truth in this kind of evidence. 

Sellers, in particular, should use more of this direct 
testimonial evidence. Buyers are interested in people and 
like to have evidence presented to them through the mouths 
of persons other than the seller. The value of direct testi¬ 
monial evidence in advertising is suggested in the following 
paragraph on style in copy-writing: 

“The test of an advertisement is in its ability to make the 
readers have a sort of fraternal chummy interest in every 
word that is said. You are confiding in them, you are tak¬ 
ing the public into your confidence, you are tipping people 
off as it were. The advertisement and the reader are almost 
behind closed doors, having a friendly chat. * * * All 

the way through copy of this character, you, the reader, feel 
the guiding hand of a friend. It is a personally conducted 
copy tour. That message was written for you and for you 
only. It takes you into its confidence. There is no fine 
writing; it is pal talking to pal, as it were, with no affecta¬ 
tion. There are real living characters in the little scenario. 
* * * The running vein of a personality through the copy 

is a pay streak as far as the reader is concerned. He 
‘listens’ rather than ‘reads.’ ” (Larned W. Livingston, “Get¬ 
ting a Real Personality Into the Advertisement.” Printers’ 
Ink, Dec. 2, 1920, p. 42.) 

Therein lies the secret of the effectiveness of direct 
testimony—the phrasing suggests the living personality who 
is testifying. And next to personal experiences, the ex¬ 
periences of others expressed directly are the most easily 
accepted data from which conclusions may be inferred. 

The second method of presenting testimonial evidence is 
the indirect statement of testimony. It may be a simple 
statement of the results of tests, of the findings of investi¬ 
gators, or of the approval of authorities. Generally it lacks 







68 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


the intimate touch, the sense of the living personality present 
in the direct testimonial appeal. Something of this inti¬ 
macy can perhaps be retained but only with difficulty. The 
following advertisement illustrates such an attempt: 

“The Watch of Railroad Accuracy.” 

“Back of every time-table, for every train, on every time¬ 
table, there are dozens of men— dispatchers, conductors,, en¬ 
gineers—who must work with an eye always on the time. 
They time their watches they carry. Were their watches 
inaccurate the time-tables would lose half their dependability 
and convenience. More Hamilton watches are carried by 
railroad men than any other make. 

“The picture of the man in the cab, by the way, is not a 
mere picture makeshift. It is of a real person—a New York 
Central engineer who has carried a Hamilton for ten years.” 
{Printers' Ink, July 1, 1920.) 

The “Little Schoolmaster” of Printers' Ink comments on 
this as follows: 

“I bought a Hamilton watch because I had the feeling that 
a watch that was used by railroad men must be accurate, 
dependable, safe and sure. No other kind could be used 
there. Seconds may mean a matter of life and death.” 
{Printers' Ink, July 1, 1920.) 

There is relatively little expressed inference in testimonial 
reasoning, but the attempt should be made to make what 
there is proceed cautiously and naturally to a conclusion. 

Inference movement in this type of reasoning can be safe¬ 
guarded by applying the following rules. 

1. Show the competency of the witness used. 

2. Use more than one testifying witness. 

3. Use independent and varied testifying witnesses. 

Testimonial reasoning should be used principally in ad¬ 
dressing an audience that is somewhat hostile. Whenever an 

audience partially opposes the purpose sentence, the issues 
should be referred to third parties. Such an audience cannot 
be argued with at the outset. The personality of the speaker 
i-or writer must not be too evident, or hostility will be in- 



70 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


creased. The audience needs to be conciliated and persuaded 
by the presentation of evidence from a third party in lieu of 
its own experience. This can best be accomplished by 

testimonial reasoning. 

Testimonial reasoning should be used also in developing 
individual propositions that are likely to be received with 
hostility by the audience. 






































































































































































































































































































































72 


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Chapter VI. 

Systematic Reasoning. 

The highest and most complex form of reasoning is sys- 
tematic reasoning. It is reasoning which calls for a maxi¬ 
mum of reflection. It differs from the other types in that 
every step forward is cautious and critical, and in that the 
whole is based on relatively small amounts of either evidence 
from experience or evidence from testimony. Its strength 
lies in the fact that it gives an opportunity for critical exam¬ 
ination at each step as it slowly, cautiously, and logically pro¬ 
ceeds toward a conclusion. 

Systematic reasoning may be defined as a reasoning process 
that attempts to present a logical chain of inference proposi¬ 
tions following naturally and systematically from tested evi¬ 
dence. In this type of reasoning, the conclusion is never 
reached immediately. There are always mediate steps. Judg¬ 
ment and action are held in abeyance until all the possibilities 
may be examined and tested. There are no hurried jumps 
from one bit of fact (evidence) to another; the way (in¬ 
ference) that is traversed in making the connections is care¬ 
fully marked so that it may be evident to all. Every bit of 
fact (evidence) is clearly presented for what it is, so that 
it may be tested and evaluated. 

The seller uses systematic reasoning when he presents to 
the prospect a problem and a number of possible solutions, 
followed by a comparison of the merits of the possible solu¬ 
tions in theory and in practice. The attempt is made to lead 
the prospect to the desired judgment with regard to one of 
the possible solutions by citing evidence and inferences which 
tend to weigh heavily in the process of comparing the respec¬ 
tive advantages of the possible solutions. 

The effectiveness of this type of appeal will depend upon 
how logically the inference movements proceed and how care¬ 
fully and critically this inference movement is presented, as 
well as how true the evidence may be that is offered. Some 




























74 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


definite suggestions for constructing logical inference move¬ 
ments were offered in Chap. III. 

The typical forms of inductive and deductive inference 
movement may be classified as 

(1) Cause to effect. 

(2) Effect to cause. 

(3) Effect to effect. 

Causal relationship is at the base of almost all inference. 
This relationship must be made clear and evident in systematic 
reasoning. 

Three general rules can be suggested which should be fol¬ 
lowed in making the causal relationships clear and evident. 
They are : 

1. Show that the cause is adequate to produce the effect. 

2. Show that there are no other causes that can account 

for the effect. 

3. Show that the cause or the effect was actual. 

While the business man should understand inductive and 
deductive inference movements, it is hardly practicable for 
him to use these terms in a formal way. A more effective 
scheme of procedure for systematic reasoning can be sug¬ 
gested. 

Systematic reasoning which follows out the following steps 
carefully and cautiously should be effective for a seller. 

1. Show a need of some kind. 

2. Locate the cause of the need. 

3. Suggest the product or service to meet the need. 

4. Show by inference propositions that the particular 

commodity or service can best meet the need. 

5. Give facts to support the inference propositions. 

These steps carry out the natural order in thinking. They 
are arranged in the most logical order. It is easier to pro¬ 
ceed progressively from step one to step five in the systematic 
reasoning than in any other way, because such procedure 
follows the natural order of thinking. Psychologists are quite 


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































76 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


generally agreed that the natural process of thinking resolves 
itself into similar steps or elementary constituents. 

Carefully examine the following illustration of systematic 
reasoning in advertising. 

“Did your last car measure up to an ideal standard of per¬ 
formance? If it did not, make sure before you purchase this 
time. 

“When 116 cars of the same make run 100 miles all the 
way in lozv gear under all conditions of weather, including 
high temperatures, at lofty altitudes, over rough roads— 

“(116 stock Franklin sizes in 116 different sections per¬ 
formed this feat on Sept. 24, 1914, without stopping, with¬ 
out special lubrication, attachments or adjustments of any 
kind, demonstrating the absolute superiority of Franklin di¬ 
rect air cooling.) 

“When 94 of the same make average 32.8 miles each on 
one gallon of gasoline under all sorts of road and weather 
conditions— 

“(94 stock Franklin sixes in 94 different parts of the 
country did this in The National Economy Test of May 1, 
1914. By sworn records, one car ran 51 miles on one gal¬ 
lon, and the lowest record of the 94 was 17 miles, made 
through mud.) 

“When owners of the same make show an average life per 
set of tires of more than 8,000 miles in every day use— 

“(Actual records of Franklin covering a period of four 
years show an average mileage of 8,996 per set of tires.) 

“When scientific tests show that the power developed by 
the engine of this car, 84.4% is transformed into motion and 
only 15.6% taken by friction— 

“(This test was made by mechanical engineers at the Wor¬ 
cester Polytechnic Institute. There are six main points in 
a car where friction reduces power. Most cars lose more 
than 15% in the friction of the tires on the roads alone. The 
Franklin delivers all but 15.6% of the power developed.) 

“When the experience of owners of this same car shows 
from 400 to 900 miles per gallon of lubricating oil— 

“(Even in the low gear run under extreme and abnormal 
conditions, the average consumption for 100 miles by 116 
cars was only 1.2 gallons. The average work done by the 
engine was equivalent to 336 miles at a speed of 42 miles 
per hour.) 





/ 


78 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


“When five such feats—any one of them remarkable in 
itself—are all performed by the same car the significance of 
the performance to you, as a car buyer is this, 

“The Franklin is an all-around car-proved at every point— 
power, efficiency, economy, etc.” 

(Quoted from a Franklin car advertisement, reproduced in 
Tipper, Hotchkiss, Hollingworth, and Parsons, Advertising.) 

Systematic reasoning should be used principally in address¬ 
ing an audience that is somewhat considerate. Any audience 
that receives the purpose sentence with critical consideration 
will need to have the issues spread before it clearly and 
logically. Such an audience wants the opportunity to weigh 
and test evidence and to examine inference critically. 

Systematic reasoning should be used also in developing indi¬ 
vidual propositions that are likely to be received by the audi¬ 
ence with hesitation and consideration. 












80 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter VII. 

Fallacies. 

A reasoning process may be attacked by criticizing the 
validity of the evidence presented, by criticizing the inference 
process, or by criticizing both the evidence and the inference. 

To question the inference process is to charge that the sug¬ 
gested conclusion does not follow logically from the infer¬ 
ence propositions used as premises. The effort is made to 
show that without regard to the truth or falsity of the indi¬ 
validity of the evidence presented, by criticizing the inference 
transition from one proposition to another. (Foster, Argu¬ 
mentation and Debate.) 

Fallacies may be defined as errors in the reasoning process. 
The business man should be able to detect the principal fal¬ 
lacies as soon as they are expressed. He should then proceed 
to point out the error to the group addressed, striving to do 
it as simply and clearly as possible in a very few words. He 
should hit at the error quickly and directly with a few telling 
sentences. He should show why it is a fallacy without 
spinning out the telling. He should not call the fallacy by 
its technical name as established by the logicians. The name 
tag of the fallacy seldom means anything to the majority of 
the members of an average audience. 

The two classes of fallacies as the division is usually made 
by the logicians are 

I. Formal Fallacies. 

II. Material Fallacies. 

A Formal Fallacy is one that arises from an error in the 
application of the rules for the syllogism. 

A Material Fallacy is one that arises from an error in 
understanding the nature and relationship of the inference 
propositions. 



82 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


The principal Formal Fallacies are 

1. Amphibology. 

2. Composition. 

3. Division. 

4. Equivocation. 

5. Accent. 

Amphibology is a formal fallacy caused by the use of am¬ 
biguous grammatical structure which produces misconception. 
(Jevons.) 

Example: Thomas A. Edison is more like John D. Rocke¬ 
feller than Henry Ford. 

Composition is a formal fallacy caused by affirming some¬ 
thing about a class separately in the major premise and col¬ 
lectively in the minor premise—of using the middle term dis- 
tributively or separately in the major premise, and collectively 
in the minor premise. 

Example: Three and two are two numbers. 

Five is two and three. 

Five is two numbers. 

Division is a formal fallacy caused by affirming something 
about a class collectively in the major premise and separately 
in the minor premise—or using the middle term collectively 
in the major premise, distributively in the minor. 

Example: The Republicans passed a protective tariff. 
Senator Lodge is a Republican, 

Senator Lodge passed a protective tariff. 

Equivocation is a formal fallacy caused by assuming that 
what is true of a word used in one sense is also true of the 
same word in an entirely different sense. 

Example: The Standard Oil Co. has a responsible direc¬ 
torate system. Its directors are responsi¬ 
ble, trustworthy men. 

Accent is a formal fallacy caused by misplacing accent so 
as to change an expressed meaning. 



84 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Example: We are too proud to fight. (If this sentence 
is delivered with the accent on the word 
too, and a slight pause after the word, the 
twisted meaning will be evident.) 

The principal Material Fallacies are: 

(a. Simple iteration. 

1. Petitii Principii (b. Iteration by generalization. 

(c. Argument in a circle. 

(d. Non-evident premise. 

(a. Argumentum ad Hominem. 

2. Ignoratio Elenchi (b. Argumentum ad Populum. 

(c. Argumentum ad Ignorantium. 
(d. Argumentum ad Verecundiam. 

3. Non Sequitur. 

4. Non causa pro causa. 

5. Plurium Interrogationum. 

Petitii Principii is a material fallacy caused by begging the 
question, by assuming without proof. 

Example: Opium produces sleep because it is soporific. 
( Covington.) 

Ignoratio Elenchi is a material fallacy caused by ignoring 
the question, by arguing beside the point. 

Argumentum ad Hominem is a material fallacy caused by 
ignoring the question and inferring that some man associated 
with the question has, or has not, some fault. 

Example: The Ajax Company should not attempt to 
develop its South American trade because 
its Sales Manager is crude and illiterate. 
Argumentum ad Populum is a material fallacy caused by 
ignoring the question and inferring that the people are for 
the question or against it. 

Example: Mr. Prospect, you should not buy a Ford car 
because most of the people ridicule it. 


« 
















86 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Argumentum ad Ignorantium is a material fallacy caused 
by ignoring the question and stating merely that there is 
ignorance among the people concerning it. 

Example: This product should be sold direct to the re¬ 
tailer, because no one in this sales confer¬ 
ence can prove that it should be sold through 
the jobber. 

Argumentum ad Verecundiam is a material fallacy caused 
by ignoring the question and stating merely that a proposi¬ 
tion is supported by authority or an accepted body of doc¬ 
trines. 

Example: Fifteen minutes a day spent in reading from 
the Five-Foot-Shelf of Books is sufficient 
to give a man a liberal education, because 
Dr. Elliot says so. 

Nan Sequitur is a material fallacy caused by proposing a 
conclusion that does not follow from the inference premises. 

Example: None but members of the union will be em¬ 
ployed. 

A certain man is a member of the union. 

Therefore, he must be employed. 

Non causa pro causa is a material fallacy caused by imagin¬ 
ing and asserting a cause where there is none. 

Example: Three eggs out of a carton of twelve are 
broken. 

The remaining nine eggs are spoiled. 

The three broken eggs spoiled the other nine. 

Plurium Interrogationum is a material fallacy caused by 
asking a question which cannot be answered without an in¬ 
jurious admission. 

Example: Have you stopped profiteering? 

Are you still adulterating your product? 





88 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


PART III—DEBATE. 

Chapter I. 

The Conduct of Formal Debate. 

As has been said, debate is a specialized form of argu¬ 
mentation in which the opponent is present and is heard— 
(debatere —to beat off). It is always oral. 

Formal Debating is usually confined to literary society, 
high school and college or university contests. It may be in¬ 
tersociety, interscholastic, interclass, interfraternity, and inter¬ 
collegiate. Occasionally, debates occur at Public Forums. 
(Scott Nearing vs. E. R. Seligman on Socialism.) 

Purely Informal Debating is found on every hand in actual 
life—in the talk of a salesman and prospect, in the meeting 
of a board of directors, in the deliberations of a civil council, 
in a political assembly, etc. 

Ordinarily, the number of speakers in a formal debating 
contest is six, two teams of three members each. The debate 
is usually divided into two parts, the constructive argument 
and the refutation. Each speaker is given a definite amount 
of time for his own constructive argument and for a refuta¬ 
tion of the opposing arguments. 

The established order of speaking in formal debating is as 
follows: 


Constructive Argument. 

1*. First Affirmative Speaker. 

2. First Negative Speaker. 

3. Second Affirmative Speaker. 

4. Second Negative Speaker. 

5. Third Affirmative Speaker. 

6. Third Negative Speaker. 



90 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Refutation. 

1. First Negative Speaker. 

2. First Affirmative Speaker. 

3. Second Negative Speaker. 

4. Second Affirmative Speaker. 

5. Third Negative Speaker. 

6. Third Affirmative Speaker. 

The rule that the affirmative should open the constructive 
argument and close the refutation is fundamental, no matter 
what arrangement is made with regard to the number of 
speakers. 

Formal Debates are contests. They are usually judged on 
the merits of the debating done by the respective teams and 
not on the merits of the resolution debated. 

Certain types of speakers seem to be fitted for particular 
speaking positions. 

The first speaker should be clear and forceful in delivery. 
He should have the ability to picture his ideas and to make 
his exposition simple and effective. The first speaker’s task 
is to present the case, to make the issues plain, to define the 
terms, and to announce the constructive plan. 

The second speaker should usually be the most logical and 
most original thinker on the team. He needs to be extremely 
nimble of mind. The bulk of the reasoning will usually fall 
on the second speaker. His task is to make the audience 
feel the weight of evidence and inference. The second 
speaker should present the essence of his team’s constructive 
case. 

The third speaker should be the most forceful of all in 
delivery. His duty is to gather up the dangling threads of 
the case, to summarize his team’s constructive case and to 
put in the final persuasive effort. He should be an agile 
thinker, and an eloquent speaker. The audience expects a 
forceful close. 

Debating teams should observe the niceties of platform 
etiquette. No matter how badly a team may be beaten, it can 













Ill 

. 









92 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


impress itself favorably upon the audience by its platform 
conduct. So, too, a violation of decent platform behavior 
may be offensive to the audience and influence the judges un¬ 
favorably. 

In the preparation of the constructive argument for a for¬ 
mal debate, the same general principles that have been out¬ 
lined in the chapters dealing with argumentation should be 
followed. The Analysis of the Subject-Matter should be 
made by constructing an Analysis Sheet and a Brief; the pur¬ 
pose of the team should be chosen, and the development 
should be prepared to meet most effectively the particular 
audience to be addressed. 







4 





94 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter II. 

Refutation. 

Preparation for Refutation involves a careful consideration 
of possible opposing propositions and how they may be estab¬ 
lished. Inference and evidence in varying amounts will be 
offered by the opposition. Just what sort of inference will 
be presented is difficult to determine; consequently advance 
preparation of reasoning to show that the suggested infer¬ 
ence should not be followed out is almost impossible. More 
or less reliance on perceiving the inference fallacies on the 
spur of the moment and then pointing them out to the audi¬ 
ence is necessary. The detection of inference fallacies has 
been discussed in a previous chapter. 

While it is also impossible to tell just what opposing evi¬ 
dence will be presented, it is possible to prepare to attack evi¬ 
dence more definitely than to prepare to attack inference. 
Evidence that tends to throw doubt upon inferences pointing 
toward the acceptance of the opposing proposition can be 
gathered. It should be classified and filed in a card index 
where it will be immediately available for use when needed. 
Evidence to be used in refutation can and should be pre¬ 
pared. This material should be grouped under various heads, 
dictated by the principal propositions of the subject-matter. 

For example, suppose that the resolution for debate is, 
“Resolved that the U. S. should invite the A. B. C. countries 
to co-operate in establishing a joint protectorate over Haiti.” 
The refutation cards may be arranged in groups designated 
as follows: 

U. S. Misgovernment in Haiti. 

Distrust of the U. S. in Haiti. 

Distrust of the U. S. in South America. 

Need for Developing Pan-Americanism. 

Capabilities of the A. B. C. Countries. 

Workability of the Joint Protectorates of History. 

Practicability of Joint Control. 








* 









































. 


















96 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


The Hay-Paunceforte Treaty. 

Independence for Haiti. 

Neutrality for Haiti. 

U. S. Annexation of Haiti, etc. 

A seemingly unimportant clipping or statement pertaining 
to the above topics may become all important and powerful 
in the exigencies of the refutation. 

The problem of selecting the propositions to be refuted, to 
be admitted, and to be ignored is a matter of vital impor¬ 
tance. Those propositions which the opposition has greatly 
emphasized should ordinarily be selected for refutation. 
These propositions should be attacked and shown to the audi¬ 
ence in their proper relation to the main issues. The main 
issues are the vital ones and should be considered individually 
and as component parts of a complete case. Mere random 
attacks on trivialities, clever as they may be, will be of little 
value. The big issues are the issues that cause acceptance or 
rejection of the purpose proposition. 

The work of refutation in a formal contest debate should 
be carefully divided among the members of the team. 

The first speaker in refutation should attack and eliminate 
a large number of minor propositions. He should show to 
the audience that these propositions are relatively unimpor¬ 
tant. 

The second speaker in refutation should devote almost his 
entire time to an attack on the principal issue of the opposi¬ 
tion. 

The third speaker in refutation should gather up the threads 
and contrast the complete case of the opposition with his 
team’s constructive argument. 

Three special methods of refutation are commonly used: 

1. The Dilemma. 

2. The Method of the Residue. 

3. The Reductio ad Absurdum. 

The Dilemma is a special method of refutation in which the 
attacking party endeavors to reduce the opposing case to two 














. f 

























98 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


contradictory issues, neither of which is true. Each one of 
these issue propositions states a course of action or policy. 
Each is a “Horn of the dilemma”; for the opposition must 
impale itself on one or the other. 

Example: “The negative tell us tonight that Europe must 
pay her debt to us. They agree that Europe, if she does not 
pay us, must pay us largely in goods. Now just where does 
the negative stand? Do they mean to say to Europe, ‘Pay 
your debts/ and at the same time erect a high protective tariff 
wall which will prevent the importation of European goods? 
Or do they mean to tear down all tariff bars and ruin Ameri¬ 
can Industry by an influx of cheap European goods produced 
by pauperized labor?” (College debate.) 

The Method of the Residue is a special method of refuta¬ 
tion in which the attacking party enumerates all the possible 
conclusions concerning the matter at issue and then eliminates 
and destroys all but one. This one (the residue) is left as 
the true possibility. 

Example: “How are international debts settled? They 
are liquidated by the following methods: by payment in ter¬ 
ritory, gold, securities, services or goods. 

“The first method of payment is out of the question in the 
present situation. Our policies have always been against 
colonial expansion. We believe in self-determination—pay¬ 
ment in territory is unthinkable. 

“Can the debt be paid in gold? The world's gold supply 
is only about 7 billion dollars, less than the amount of the 
debt. We already hold in the U. S. 40% of the world’s sup¬ 
ply of gold. Eight years of gold payments on the interest 
alone, and there would be scarcely a single gold coin in all 
of Europe. 

“How will the allies be able to pay us in securities? More 
than half of the American securities held in Great Britain 
were sold before we entered the war, and the greater part of 
the remaining American securities held in Great Britain are 
now used as collateral for private loans. This month’s is¬ 
sue of The Nation's Business states flatly that France has 
sold practically her entire holding of American securities, and 
that that source for credits has gone. 




























































































































100 


BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


“How about payment in services? At present we have a 
yearly freight balance in favor of the U. S. of $73,000,000. 
Foreigners pay us more for the use of ships than we pay 
them. Before any payment can be made in shipping services, 
the U. S. must give up its credit of $73,000,000 per year. 
Today, New York is rapidly becoming the banking center of 
the world. Daily, more and more insurance and arbitrage 
transactions are carried out. All the advantage the U. S. 
gained in services must be overthrown before the Allied Na¬ 
tions can begin repayment in services. For them to increase 
their services to us to such an extent would require a too vio¬ 
lent economic effort. 

“So, ladies and gentlemen, we must come to the conclusion 
already reached by Bass, Boulton, Patterson, Seligman, and 
hosts of other economists—that payment must be made in 
goods almost altogether. As Frank H. Vanderlip says, 
‘Nothing will permanently discharge them (the allied debts) 
when the sum ranges into such figures as those debts have 
reached, except excess in exports of goods/ ” (College de¬ 
bate. ) 

The reductio ad absurdum is a special method of refutation 
in which the attacking party attempts to reduce his opponents' 
suggested conclusion to an absurdity. For a moment he as¬ 
sumes that his opponents’ conclusion is true and proceeds to 
contrast it with an absolutely absurd conclusion reached by 
the same inference process. 

Example: “President Harding says that as between Amer¬ 
icans and Filipinos the only difference of opinion is that 
which relates to the time appropriate for the granting of 
Philippine independence; which sounds very sweet and lovely, 
until one reflects that the same sort of thing can be said with 
equal propriety, by a turn-key of his prisoner." (The Free¬ 
man.) 







PROBLEMS IN 

BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


PART I—ANALYSIS 
Chapter 1. 

The Development of Analytical Ability. 

I. List the principal propositions of Theory in the follow¬ 
ing extract, in what seems to you to be the order of their 
importance. 

“The essential characteristic of a crisis is the possible and 
sudden movement of readjustment in the mistaken capital¬ 
ization of productive agents. Capitalization runs through 
all industry. The value of everything that lasts for more 
than a moment is built in part upon incomes that are not 
actual, but expectative, whose amount, therefore, is a mat¬ 
ter of guesswork, or ‘speculation.’ Many unknown factors 
enter into the estimate of future incomes. The universal 
tendency to rhythm in motion (material or psychic) mani¬ 
fests itself in an overestimate or underestimate of incomes 
and of every other factor in value. This is emphasized by 
a psychological factor called sometimes the ‘hypnotism of the 
crowd,’ and sometimes, the ‘mob mind.’ Most men follow 
a leader in investment as in other things. The spirit of 
speculation grows until often it becomes almost a frenzy, 
and people rush toward this or that investment, throwing 
capitalization in some industries far out of equilibrium with 
that in others. 

“The cause of crises immediately back of the malad¬ 
justed capitalization thus is seen to be a psychological factor; 
it is the rhythmic miscalculation of incomes and of capital 
value, occurring to some degree throughout industry, but 
particularly in certain lines. This subjective cause in men 
js given an opportunity for action only when certain favor- 






104 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


ing objective conditions are present.” (Modern Economic 
Problems, Fetter, p. 138.) 

II. Read the following paragraph carefully. Discuss 
orally the principal propositions and present last the most 
important one. 

“There are in the international situation, it must be re¬ 
membered, two sets of conflicting interests. They are the 
interests of exploitation, on the one hand, and, on the other, 
the interests of legitimate industry and commerce. Industry 
and commerce would thrive best in England if Germany were 
put on her feet and became once more, as soon as possible, 
a good, solvent customer. So, too, would the same interests 
thrive best in the United States and France. The interests 
of predatory exploitation, however, thrive best—or they think 
they do—upon such deals as we suspect have been entered 
into by M. Poincare and Mr. Bonar Law; such deals, for in¬ 
stance, as were entered into by the British, French and 
Spanish Governments over Morocco. The trouble is that 
Governments always represent the latter set of interests, never 
the former. Mr. Bonar Law does not represent the interests 
of British industry and commerce; his first care is for British 
economic imperialism, e. g., at Mosul. M. Poincare rep¬ 
resents the interests of those Frenchmen who, as Mr. Henry 
L. Mencken said, find it easier to get money with the sword 
than with the shovel, e. g., in the Ruhr; and Mr. Hughes’s 
allegiance to these interests is so wholesouled that he has 
never given evidence of knowing that there are any others 
in the world. Thus it is that in a crisis of this kind, the 
interests of industry and commerce go so far by the board 
that there is little use in letting them figure in one’s calcula¬ 
tions. What industry and commerce need, naturally, is for 
.as many people as possible in all countries to resume work 
and trade; but among politicians, this does not count.” (The 
Freeman, Jan. 17, 1923.) 

III. Group the following propositions under three heads: 
Essential Propositions, Minor Propositions, and Extraneous 
Propositions. 

“Should Business Fit in With or Fight Co-operativesf” 

1. The co-operatives are here whether we like it or not. 





106 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


2. The spread of the co-operative movement during the 
last few vears has been trulv amazing. 

3. In 1921, $2,000,000,000 of agricultural products were 
sold co-operatively in this country. 

4. Some manufacturers and dealers, in the past, have been 
hostile toward the co-operatives. 

5. The regular manufacturers, in the end, have had to meet 
the prices of this co-operative mill. 

6. Resistance of this kind merely gives co-operatives ex¬ 
cellent argument for closer organization and the taking over 
of that particular line of business. 

7. The present movement will succeed even though its 
prototype failed. 

8. Proof of this statement is the amazing success of the 
co-operative movement abroad. 

9. We should accept these buying and selling groups on 
their merits and work with them. 

10. The North American Fruit Exchange is the greatest 
fruit and vegetable sales organization in the United States. 

11. The Burley Tobacco Growers’ Co-operative Associa¬ 
tion markets the crop of 55,000 growers in the Burley To¬ 
bacco belt. 

12. Moline Plow Company has a sales plan which takes 
organized farmer groups into full co-operative partnership. 

13. Moline Plow Company has thus reduced the number 
of agents by placing them only at the larger distributing 
points where needed. 

14. All sales are for cash. 

15. The distributor thus quotes very attractive basic prices. 

16. This is a big step in the right direction. 

17. The manufacturers who sell tires, fence, soap, sugar, 
shoes or typewriters, each have their separate problems to 
work out if they are going to take advantage of the rapidly 
growing outlets through co-operative agencies, ranging in 
size from the local farmer’s elevator to State-wide pooled 
contracts running into the hundreds of thousands of dol¬ 
lars. 

18. The entire subject is one which demands much calm 
and sane consideration from both sides of the counter. 

19. There is no such thing as 'direct from the producer 
to the consumer’ in most lines of merchandising. 

20. Co-operative movement in Sweden has been success¬ 
ful. 






























* 






















































\ 






























































































































































































































































































♦ 












































. 












































108 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


21. The Non-Partisan League embraces the co-operative 
principle. (Adapted from an article in Forbes Magazine, 
Jan. 6, 1923.) 

IV. Pick out four principal propositions from the follow¬ 
ing. List them on a sheet of paper. Group under them, 
the remaining propositions. 

“What Makes a Successful Business Man?” 

1. The popular conception is that speculation is gambling 
and that one who buys and sells speculative stocks is a gambler. 

2. This is not true if the man who is speculating is doing 
so intelligently. 

3. In this case it is a perfectly legitimate and profitable 
pursuit and renders a service to the entire business community. 

4. Doubt was due to the fact that the speculative market 
does offer an opportunity for the blind guesser who buys 
and sells on tips and hunches. 

5. He doesn’t last long unless he has usually large resources. 

6. The stock market has three distinct phases, day to day 
movements, intermediate movements of a few points in one 
direction or the other extending over several days or several 
weeks, and broad movements which are governed by the 
same fundamental laws which govern and cause business 
cycles. 

7. Over a period of years the whole market falls with al¬ 
most clocklike regularity. 

8. First and foremost, one should remember that in every 
major movement of the market there are numerous minor 
phases. These positively should be ignored. 

9. Another pitfall of which to beware is the partial pay¬ 
ment or margin method of trading. 

10. By operating with borrowed capital a dependent posi¬ 
tion is assumed. 

11. The weakness of the margin method lies in this one 
above fact. 

12. Margin calls never come when stocks are going up. 

13. The practice of selling stock short is still another ex¬ 
ample of how not to do it. 

14. It fails to take account of one’s inability to determine 
just when the bear market is to begin. 

15. One must know hozv to buy stocks as well as when. 






( 


110 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


16. All that is needed is to make up one’s mind to buy and 
then give one’s order to the broker to be executed. 

17. But much depends upon how one apportions funds 
among the different stocks. 

18. The wise and conservative policy is to “spread out all 
over the board,” making only one reservation—the selection 
of seasoned rather than unseasoned issues and groups. 

19. Every expansion period witnesses the formation of a 
multitude of new companies and the launching of new indus¬ 
tries. 

20. As many different stocks and different groups of one’s 
capital will permit should be incorporated in one’s list. 

21. Various cycles differ, of course, and no hard and fast 
rule can be designated as to the possibilities of profit in long 
pull speculation. 

22. An average of 20 per cent each year of the business 
cycle is reasonable to expect when the final results of the 
period are recapitulated. 

(Adapted from an article in Forbes Magazine, Jan. 6, 
1923.) 

V. List the points that should be considered in reaching a 
decision on the following problem. 

“The firm of Woodcock and Eldridge has a medium size 
plant in Maryland, for canning potatoes. This firm com¬ 
petes with other canners in Maryland and other eastern states 
and also with California canners. 

“About one-half the annual pack of tomatoes is now 
packed in Maryland. Recently, however, California toma¬ 
toes have become severe competitors of the Maryland toma¬ 
toes. Costs of production are said to be lower in California, 
because of larger production per acre and also greater 
regularity in production. There is a large available acreage 
for expansion in California. The canning establishments are 
more uniform in their operation and more nearly standard¬ 
ized in California than in Maryland. The California tomato 
is more attractive in appearance. After canning it is firmer, 
more meaty, and less watery than the Maryland tomato. 
The Maryland tomato, nevertheless, has a superior flavor.” 
{Marketing Problems, Copeland, p. 87.) 

The Woodcock, Eldridge Co. is now selling their product 
to- chain stores. They wish to increase their sales. What 
should be done? 






























































































































112 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


VI. Fill in the blank spaces with suitable connectives. 
Analyze the extract carefully first. 

“.manufactured products of all kinds such terms as 

case-lots, carloads, dozens, gross, barrels, tanks, serve to il¬ 
lustrate the importance of this matter of assembling. 

subdividing quantities as a part of the process of merchan¬ 
dise distribution. Any single purchaser,.who can ad¬ 

vantageously handle a tank car full of molasses is a more 
economical customer to serve than twenty who would each 
be able to buy and sell a few barrels each, and.eco¬ 

nomical than five hundred each of whom could only buy and 

sell a few gallons.the commercial savings represented 

by large purchases of this kind to be so considerable as to 
make profitable a specialized business in subdividing lots of 
merchandise bought in quantities large enough to offer the 
producer a satisfactory return at only a relatively slight ad¬ 
vance over this cost of production.in such commodi¬ 

ties as fleece wool of the farm section of the country a profit¬ 
able business may be conducted in the assembling of small 
lots of wool to be sold in block at a relatively small mark-up. 
This is one of the functions for the performance of which 
the ‘middleman 5 grew up. Blind rebellion against this fact in 
distribution has been characteristic of the history of busi¬ 
ness/ 5 

(The Elements of Marketing, Cherington, p. 59.) 

VII. Point out the relationship between the sentences in 
the following paragraph. (Part to Whole, Equivalence, 
Contract or Comparison, Cause to Effect, Reason and Con¬ 
clusion. ) 

“(1) Exemption of any kind of income from taxation is 
wrong in principle. (2) It works to create a class of income 
recipients who have no direct concern with the fiscal policy of 
the government. (3) Taxes may rise or fall; it is all one 
to them. (4) In theory, to be sure, they pay for the privi¬ 
lege what it is worth. (5) They accept a smaller income 
than they might otherwise command. (6) In theory the tax 
free nobles and clergy of the ancient regime in France had 
paid for their privileges. (7) Nevertheless those privileges 
became so onerous in time that they represented one of the 
chief objects of revolutionary attack. (8) In the United 
States the tax free privilege presents a vice peculiar to our 














114 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


form of government. (9) The investor buys his tax free 
privilege from the states; the loss of revenue falls to the 
federal government. (10) The case for a constitutional 
amendment limiting the states’ right to grant tax exemption 
is a strong one.” 

VIII. Define the following terms: 

1. Socialism. 

2. Bolshevism. 

3. Conservatism. 

4. Liberalism. 

5. Merger. 

6. Speculation. 

7. Amalgamation. 

8. Producer’s Co-operative Association. 


























































































116 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter II. 

The Analysis of Subject-Matter. 

I. According to the formula given in the syllabus, list and 
group the principal subject-matter propositions that are avail¬ 
able for use in arguing for a Ship Subsidy. 

II. Group the following propositions under the heads of 
Need, Cause, Remedy, Theory, and Practice. 

“It could not be enforced without aid of police power. 

“It could not reach and serve more than 25 per cent of the 
people coming under the law. 

“Without compulsory health insurance the workman is in¬ 
capacitated and without earning power while ill. 

“It would destroy the spirit of independence. 

“The State would collect a tax of $5 to effect a saving of $1 

“The wage earner would be forced to pay $9.60 to save 
$4.80. 

“If the 3,500,000 wage earners could be brought under 
the law, it would mean that 3,350,000 would become dis¬ 
cards, because of age or physical condition. 

“The wage earner will not save for a rainy day. 

“The laborer does not acquire the savings habit. 

“It would furnish political employment or remunerative 
association for 250,000 politicians. 

“It would create carrier funds, that would be controlled 
or exclusively administered politically, to the amount of 
$150,000,000 annually. 

“Compulsory health insurance has been a failure in Ger¬ 
many. 

“A percentage of a man’s salary would be applied to carry 
the insurance. 

“It would permit a small percentage of the doctors to 
control most of the industrial practice. 

“It would apparently exclude all but allopathic practioners. 

“It would interfere with religious liberty, because it 
would force medical examination of, and compel medical 
treatment of Christian Scientists. 

“It would establish paternalism. 

“It would create class distinction.” 

(Argumentation and Debating, Foster, p. 59.) 
































118 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


III. Construct a correct brief of the argument presented 
in the following editorial. 

“Small Hope for Subway Riders 

“The head of the Interborough, Mr. Hedley, tells the piti¬ 
less truth about the subway situation when he says it is going 
to get worse and not better. The city keeps growing. The 
subway system is not growing. There are not lines enough 
for the town. What lines we have are so congested that the 
impossibility of rapidly loading and unloading the trains 
makes conditions not only uncomfortable but dangerous. 

“Lengthening local station platforms and making Thirty- 
third Street an express stop may help a little on the East 
Side subway, but it will be months before that work is done. 
Nor will this relieve the crush on the West Side below Forty- 
second Street. Nothing will take off the pressure in Man¬ 
hattan to an appreciable extent except the building of new 
trunk lines running north and south and the extension of 
the Broadway subway to the northern part of the island. 

“Of course there is no subway problem. The situation 
passed out of the problem stage years ago. It was evident 
then that the only way to help the congestion was to build 
more subways. Since that time three la,rge plans have been 
laid before the tantalized public. One was uttered in 1920, 
when Mr. Turner, the chief engineer of the Transit Con¬ 
struction Commissioner, mapped roads for the annual accom¬ 
modation of five billion passengers. In September, 1921, 
the present Transit Commission put forth its admirable plan 
of building new subways into a reorganized and unified sys¬ 
tem. That plan was offered to the Board of Estimate for its 
co-operation sixteen months ago. And for sixteen months 
the Board of Estimate has refused to go a step with the Tran¬ 
sit Commission. 

“The third plan is what is known as the Mayor’s plan. Its 
good features, such as the Third avenue subway, are over¬ 
balanced by the impossibility of financing its cost at a billion 
dollars. It would take fifteen years to finish, while the Tran¬ 
sit Commission plan calls for completion in five years—that 
is, by the fall of 1926 if the Board of Estimate had not stood 
in the way. 

“Now the subway riders, packed into a train which crawls 
because platform congestion impedes traffic, have the melan- 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































120 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


choly reflection that decision on future subways has been 
thrown back to the Legislature. They wonder whether the 
day will ever come when somebody will be empowered to go 
ahead with the first five or ten miles of the most necessary 
trunk line. 

“It is sad to say it, but there is no immediate hope for the 
subway riders. They must continue to be crushed and 
trampled in the -rush hours or they must transfer their affec¬ 
tions to 1 * * * V. whatever better space they may find in the elevated 
and surface lines. Getting down town in the morning is going 
to be more and more uncertain. Getting home at 6 o’clock in 
the evening is a habit that will have to be abandoned by those 
who cannot leave their offices or stores until 5 o’clock. 

“All this is going to hit business and individual happiness. 
But it is the old story of cities which permit politics, disguised 
as democracy, to run big business affairs such as the building 
of subways is. If New York is ten years behind with its 
transportation New York is merely paying for its mistakes. 
But the worst is yet to come.” (New York Herald. Tan. 
25, 1923.) 

IV. Tell what rules are violated in the following example 
of bad briefing. Give the correct form. 

a. It is ascribed to unions only because in some cases unions 
have written these practices in rules. Since, 

II. The abandonment of the open shop principle will 
result in increased efficiency of labor, therefore 

1. Many of the disadvantages are disappearing, for 

a. Restrictions on the use of machinery. 

b. Restrictions on membership, through exorbi¬ 
tant initiation fees or long apprenticeship re¬ 
quirements are now demanded. 

2. Limitation of output is a habit not limited to 
union workmen but is as wide as industry itself. 

b. These rules are the workers’ reply to the employers’ 
practices of speeding up work and lowering price rates. 

A. The defects of unionism are neither inherent nor insu¬ 
perable. 

V. Draw up a section of a correct brief for an affirma¬ 
tive argument on the following resolution. Use only those 






122 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


propositions that are listed below. Supply the proper con¬ 
nectives. 

Resolved: That Congress should pass laws prohibiting 
strikes in essential industries. (Constitutionality granted.) 

1. All that is gained by the strike is lost again as labor 
grows plentiful and work scarce. 

2. Conditions today are entirely different from what they 
were years ago, when people were more economically inde¬ 
pendent. 

3. Strikes in all industries are an economic waste, and are 
not a satisfactory means of settlement. 

4. An industrial court would be a far more satisfactory 
method. 

5. Strikes in essential industries are undesirable and should 
be prohibited by law. 

6. Even now it is so dangerous that a cessation of work 
is no longer necessary. 

7. There is danger of the strike being used by radical 
leaders to subvert our government. 

8. The strike is not a permanent mode of settlement of 
disputes. 

9. The public is dependent upon a national system of sup¬ 
plies for its welfare, its happiness and its very life. 

10. A strike in an essential industry depends for its success 
upon the harm it can inflict upon the public. 

11. The power to strike is too destructive to be wielded 
by any minority in this country. 

12. Pressure is deliberately brought to bear upon the pub¬ 
lic so that public sentiment will compel the employer to grant 
the demands of the workers. 

13. This was the case with the famous Adamson law. 

14. Today a .railroad or a coal mine strike can imperil the 
comfort and even the lives of thousands within a very short 
time. 

15. The mere threat of a strike is sufficient. 

VI. What would be your answer to the following problem ? 
List the essential factors that must be considered. Then 
state what course of action you would pursue supported by 
reasons. 

“Should They Have Credit?” 

‘‘The Elm Wholesale Grocery Company, located in St. 











* ’ 




















124 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Louis, received an order from one of its salesmen for mer¬ 
chandise amounting to $250. The order was given to the 
salesman by J. G. Straw, a retail grocer in a town of 10,000 
population in southern Illinois. This was the first order that 
had been received from Mr. Straw. The following net worth 
statement was submitted by Mr. Straw: 

“ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT 
Year Ending January 1, 1922 


Assets 

Cash on hand . $ 723.78 

Accounts receivable . 6,603.05 

Merchandise inventory . 15,005.34 

Equipment inventory . 1,279.40 


$23,611.57 

Liabilities 

Accounts payable . $ 2,204.43 

Bills payable . 20,270.43 

Balahce . 1,136.71 


$23,611.57 

“The salesman also found that Mir. Straw’s annual sales are 
about $79,000; that he is taking somewhat less than one-half 
of his cash discounts; that he is buying from about 10 whole¬ 
sale groceries with occasional, scattered purchases from 
ethers; that half of his business is credit; that his stock-turn 
is 4.5 times a year, his gross profit 18%, and his total ex¬ 
pense 15%. He does not charge himself with merchandise 
taken from the store for family use. 

“The town in which Mr. Straw’s store is located is i“n a 
prosperous district, and Mr. Straw has a high standing among 
the merchants in the town. The Elm Company, heretofore, 
had not succeeded in selling any substantial quantity of 
merchandise in this town. It desires to secure a larger share 
of the business there. 

“Should this order be accepted?” 

(From Marketing Problems , Copeland, p. 221.) 

VII. Revise the following portion of a brief on govern¬ 
ment ownership. 















126 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


D. Government ownership is practicable, for 
1. The argument of the negative is unsound, for 

a. The borrowing power of the U. S. is unlimited, for 
(a) Bonds of the government would be given for 
the stocks taken over. 

{Essentials of Argument, Stone and Garrison, p. 310.) 

VIII. Draw up a brief of the following editorial. 

“Delaware Clings to the Whipping-Post 

“In voting by a large majority against the abolition of the 
whipping-post the House of Representatives in Delaware has 
shown how conservatism can degenerate into stupidity. 
Delaware’s archaic whipping-post law can justify itself only 
by pointing to its lineage from the Middle Ages. True, 
penologists like Magistrate House and Colonel Roosevelt, in 
their horror of wife-beaters, have urged this brutish punish¬ 
ment for brutish men. But it defeats its own object. The 
disgrace of a public flogging reacts upon the beaten wife. 
She will fear and feel the stigma, and she will shrink from- 
bringing it on her family by complaining. If she enters com¬ 
plaint, the man returns from the lashing angry and incensed, 
not against the strong-armed jailer, but against the weak 
woman who was the occasion of his suffering. 

“But lashes are also bestowed in Delaware on tramps, ‘con¬ 
fidence’ men, thieves, highwaymen, and disorderly persons. 
A large proportion of men who become tramps are broken- 
down drunkards, or the otherwise physically and mentally de¬ 
fective. They need medical treatment, not the cat-o’-nine- 
tails, and work in the open air on State farms. As for the 
others, we recall that Warden Meserve, of the New Castle 
County Workhouse in Delaware, resigned after scourging 235 
men, saying that those who were lashed never reformed, but 
became hardened criminals. It is possible that Delaware is to 
some extent protected from invasion of the criminally minded 
from other States by the prevalent fear of the whipping-post. 
But this advantage, so far as it is obtained, is acquired at the 
expense of any sane effort at reform of criminals and by a 
means that brutalizes prisoners, executioners, and—it seems 
certain—legislators.” ( New York Times.) 



1 




: 








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• . 




































128 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter III. 

The Analysis of Purpose. 

I. What is the specific purpose of the following article? 
Underline the purpose sentence . 

“Students of economics and sociology attribute the unstable 
position of the world’s trade to cyclical fluctuations of indus¬ 
try, the inevitable outcome of a world-war, the difficulties in 
connection with exchange rates, inflated prices, the wages 
problem, and innumerable other causes. That these causes 
exist, and that they have their natural bearing on the prob¬ 
lem is, of course, unquestionable. But at the same time 
there is yet another underlying, undermining cause at the 
back of trade difficulties and problems which are not merely 
peculiar to America, but which are affecting the industrial 
and commercial progress of every country that participated 
in the war. 

“And that cause is simply this—that workers do not work 
as they used to. Let us be frank about it. It is no use de¬ 
ceiving ourselves or attempting to conceal unpleasant truths. 
The average worker of today, not only in this country, but 
all over the world, is out for shorter hours and bigger 
wages. 

“There is a lot of talk, among extremists, of having been 
‘work-slaves’ in the past. By which they mean that the 
average worker’s life was mainly a matter of work. Well, 
supposing it was? Were we not happier and more prosperous 
in those days? Never in history has there been so much suf¬ 
fering and want in the world as there is today, and it is signifi¬ 
cant that never in history has there been so much agitation 
and industrial unrest. The profound tragedy of it all is, that 
never in history was there so vital a need for every ounce 
of energy, every ounce of productive power, every ounce of 
co-operation, in rebuilding the broken world, as there is 
today. 

“In work only lies the salvation of the workers of the 
world; by work only may happiness and prosperity be re¬ 
stored, for the nation and the individual alike. 

“In England, it has been estimated that hard and con¬ 
scientious work on the part of every worker, manual laborer 
and clerk alike, together with industrial peace and speeded- 
up production for the next six months, would absorb the 





130 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


entire mass of unemployed. British trade is slowly but 
surely on the upward grade. British business men are talk¬ 
ing good business in the belief that there is no lubricant so 
good for the wheels of business as optimism; a spirit of 
hope has crept throughout the community of British work¬ 
ers. They are determined to work out the solution of their 
industrial problem. 

“And therein lies the remedy for America, and for every 
nation faced with problems of unemployment, trade-slumps, 
and under-production. 

“In every office and workshop I would have emblazoned in 
letters of flame—Work is Salvation. 

“And by work I mean full-time work, not half-time work. 
I mean that every manual worker or clerical worker, em¬ 
ployer or employee, managing director or junior stenographer, 
executive or office-boy, must work 60 minutes of each hour 
for a good eight-hour day—and then some, if need be. And 
in most cases there is a need. 

“Work is salvation; let us never forget that great tru¬ 
ism. Good work benefits everybody, the employer and the 
employee alike. Where men and women work hard and 
enthusiastically, trade moves, and keeps moving, always in 
the path of progress. A nation of half-time workers, 
workers who count the hours to knocking-off time, and the 
days until Saturday, with its half-day or whole day holiday, 
cannot progress; and a nation that does not progress harbors 
poverty and discontent. 

“It is right that every worker, every man and woman in 
any calling, should get the best out of life. Happiness is 
the heritage of every human being; but (happiness must 
be worked for. ‘As ye sow, so shall ye reap,’ and slackness, 
and grumbling, and discontent never yet produced a harvest 
of happiness or prosperity. 

“We are faced with grave issues—the whole world is faced 
with grave issues, and work is the only solution to the 
problem, the only remedy for our many ills. There are 
thousands of men and women in America, in Britain, and 
in other countries, only too anxious for work, clamoring 
for work, praying for work. Is it not tragic that those who 
have work do not put forth their maximum effort to sa 
speed up trade that room is made for their suffering brothers 
and sisters outside in the streets? 

“As soon as trade begins to boom, the unemployed prob¬ 
lem begins to dissolve. It is surprising how often so obvious 



132 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


a fact is overlooked. It is up to every worker, whether 
man or woman, manual worker or clerk, employer or em¬ 
ployee, to work harder now than they have ever worked in 
their lives, to put in 60 minutes tO' every hour, to abandon 
the clock-watching, ‘thank-God-it’s-Saturday’ attitude, and 
by the sheer force of enthusiasm, determination, and con¬ 
centrated effort, to set the wheels of trade revolving, with 
ever-increasing speed. 

“When all workers work, there will be work for all.” 
(“Work for All”—E. E. Mannin, Forbes Magazine , Dec. 24, 
1921.) 

II. Construct a purpose sentence for use in each one of the 
following situations. 


General Subject 

Point of View 

Time Allotted 

Audience 

Cancellation of the 

Affirmative 

20 min. 

Mens’ Club 

Allied Debt to the 
United States 

The Human Factor 
in Industry is Man¬ 
agement’s Greatest 
Problem 

Affirmative 

10 min. 

After Dinner 
Meeting of In¬ 
dustrial Engi¬ 
neers 

Budgetary Control 
in Business 

Affirmative 

30 min. 

Directors’ 

Meeting 

The Educational 
Value of the Mo¬ 
tion Picture 

Negative 

5 min. 

Women’s Civic 
Federation 


III. Point out whether the burden of proof rests upon the 
affirmative or the negative debaters in a discussion of each 
of the following resolutions. 

1. U. S. Senators should be elected by direct vote of the 
people. 

2. Five years practical experience under a practicing Cer¬ 
tified Public Accountant should be the minimum eligibilitv 
requirement for candidates for the C. P. A. degree. 

3. The principle of the “open shop” should be adopted 
bv all employers. 

4. Ihe income tax should include all the incomes of $1,000 
or more of single men. 

IV. Criticize the phrasing of the following resolutions. 
Are they suitable for formal debates? 





134 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


1. Production control and sales control are necessary in 
every manufacturing plant. 

2. Laws should be enacted providing that in case of per¬ 
sonal injury to a workman arising out of, and in course of 
employment, his employer shall be liable for adequate com¬ 
pensation, and shall not set up contributory negligence of a 
fellow-servant as defense. 

3. Democracy should triumph in the next presidential 
election. 

4. The unjust inheritance tax should be abolished. 

5. The best interests of the United States demand a con¬ 
tinuation of the protective policy. 

V. Phrase satisfactory resolutions for debate concerning 
each of the following subjects. 

1. Goodwill in Retailing. 

2. Technical Education vs. Cultural Education. 

3. The Centralized Stenographic Department. 

4. Exclusive Agencies. 

5. The Regulation of Child-labor. 

6. The Disadvantages of Partnership Agreements. 

7. Deferred Assets. 

8. Censorship of the Press. 

VI. Suppose that you are asked to deliver the following 
material as a speech to a group of business men. Construct 
a purpose sentence for the talk and insert it at the points 
where it will be most effective. 

“Hardly a week passes without bringing report of freakish 
sentences imposed by American judges. One man was sen¬ 
tenced to receive 10 lashes with a whip because he beat 
his horse until the blood ran down the animal’s side. An¬ 
other, for failing to give his horse proper care, was sen¬ 
tenced to spend two nights in the beast’s stall while it 
was turned out to pasture. Still another man, found guilty 
of abusing his horses, was sentenced to read ‘Black Beauty’ 
and make out a report on the story to the court a few days 
later. In Atlanta the court ordered a man to eat a goose 
a day for six days until he had consumed a flock of six 
geese which were annoying an irritable neighbor. At Wilkes- 
Barre, Pa., a magistrate literally took the law into his own 
hands by jumping over his desk and blacking both eyes of 
the defendant. Defendants have been sentenced to get mar- 










136 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


ried, mow lawns, join the navy, attend church, and one man 
in Chicago was even sentenced to kiss his wife’s foot in 
open court. 

“That this mania among judges for imposing bizarre sen¬ 
tences is becoming a real problem is shown by the fact that 
the American Bar Association appointed a committee, headed 
by no less a person than Chief Justice Taft, to draft a code 
of judicial ethics dealing with the matter. The infliction of 
'cruel and unusual punishments’ is expressly forbidden by the 
constitution. But most of these penalties are not specially 
severe. Sentencing a person to read so delightful a book as 
‘Black Beauty’ could certainly not be considered cruel and 
inhuman. It would be a snap compared with a term in jail 
or even the payment of a fine. The performance of kissing 
your wife’s foot in open court would not be a great hardship 
—especially if the choice were that or a month behind the 
bars. Devoting a few hours to mowing the lawn or spend¬ 
ing a couple of nights in a horse stall would be easier than 
working in a prison stone quarry or sleeping on the hard 
beds found in the average jail. 

“The objectionable thing about these sentences is that they 
are unusual and not in the spirit of our law and our con¬ 
stitutional liberties. No matter whether the penalties are ex¬ 
cessively severe or excessively light, in the end they will do* 
more harm than good. They are the work of capricious 
judges, often men who should never have been elevated to< 
the high and responsible position of administering justice 
where the life, liberty or property of an American citizen is 
concerned. 

“Reason, not caprice, is the life and heart of all good law. 
The great English judge Sir Edward Coke said that the law 
should be the very perfection of reason. The successful ad¬ 
ministration of law depends on the degree of confidence 
placed in the courts by the common people. Nothing tends 
to destroy this confidence more than freakish sentences. If 
a judge can sentence one man to read a book without the 
authority of law, why can’t he sentence another to jump out 
of an airplane? Our laws are not like the royal decrees of 
the Medes and Persians, eternal and unalterable. If the 
sentences prescribed by the law are too harsh it is for the 
legislatures, not the judges, to remedy the defects. President 
Grant once said, and wisely, that he knew of no better way 
‘to secure the repeal of bad laws than by their stringent exe¬ 
cution.’ ” (Editorial, The Pathfinder, Jan. 27, 1923.) 



138 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


PART II—SNYTHESIS 
Chapter I. 

Constructing the Argument. 

I. From the following brief, select the propositions that 
you would use in arguing an affirmative for the resolution: 

“Resolved, That the federal government should own and 
operate the coal mines of the United States.” 

Make two selections, one for each of the following situa¬ 
tions : 

Audience Time Allotted 

(a) Labor Group 20 minutes 

(b) Congressional One hour 

Sub-Committee 

Introduction. 

A. The importance of the question is shown by the cur¬ 
rent agitation, culminating in the Calder Bill. 

B. The question does not involve the nationalization of 
industry, coal only being under discussion. 

I. The public welfare demands government ownership and 
operation of the coal mines, for 

A. Under the present system coal is scarce and expensive 
when most needed, for 

1. The private operator creates an acute seasonal de¬ 
mand by light productions in the spring and summer. 

2. The “cross-haul’’ increases the irregularity of sup¬ 
ply and the cost. 

B. The government would furnish a more stable and ade¬ 
quate supply of coal, for 

1. It would operate for sendee instead of profit, for 
a. This was shown by the Fuel Administration. 

C. The government would furnish cheaper coal, for 

1. Operating for sendee instead of profit would en¬ 
able the government to reduce the price, for 
a. The selling price would be based on the average 
cost of production instead of on the most ex¬ 
pensive part of the necessary supply. 






































































140 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


II. Government ownership offers the only adequate solution 
of the labor problems in the coal industry, for 

A. It would furnish the miners continuity of employment, 
for 

1. It would distribute production throughout the year. 

2. The inclination of the government SO' to act is 
shown by the regularity of employment of the civil 
service employees. 

B. The tendency will be to eliminate strikes, for 

1. The government has always shown itself willing to 
arbitrate, for 

a. The records of the Department of Labor show 
this, 

C. Accidents would be reduced and sanitation improved, 
for 

1. The protection which the private operator has been 
forced to give under government control is inade¬ 
quate. 

2. The government would have full power under own¬ 
ership and operation. 

3. The experience of foreign countries proves this. 

III. Government ownership is necessary to secure conserva¬ 
tion of our coal supply, for 

A. Although it is impossible to estimate with accuracy the 
quantity of our coal deposits, yet 

1. There is grave danger of exhaustion, for 

a. “The consumption of the present decade more 
than equals that of all previous decades.” (T. 

Roosevelt.) 

B. Mining for profit alone now leads to great waste of 
coal, for, 

1. As much as 50 tons of coal per acre is left in a 
single seam in Ohio mines, for 

a. The Ohio Geological Survey shows vast quan¬ 
tities of roof coal to be unmined. 

2. Coal is used for supporting pillars, 

3. Mountains of slack are burned at the mines. 

4. Lower levels are mined, leaving upper levels to 
cave in. 

C. Under government ownership all the coal would be 
mined, for 

1. The losses in one mine or seam would be covered 
by the profits from another. 





142 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


2. The needs of the future would be heeded. 

D. Government control alone will not bring about real 
conservatism, for 

1. The government cannot force a private operator 
to mine at a loss. 

TV. Government ownership is practical, for 

A. The valuation can be determined by a commission ap¬ 
pointed to appraise. 

B. Title can be secured by bond issue. 

C. The bonds can be retired from the profits. 

D. Operation with but little change of personnel, can be 
secured under a commission. 

E. The organization and methods would be based on the 
successful Federal Reserve Board and the Fuel Admin¬ 
istration. 

F. The government has shown its ability to handle large 1 
industrial affairs successfully, for 

1. The Panama Canal, the parcels post, and irrigation 
projects are examples. 

Negative. 

I. Government ownership would be a dangerous and radical 
step, for 

A. It would result in class legislation, for 

1. The miners would hold the balance of power, for 
a. The nine hundred thousand organized miners 
and their wives would force their peculiar inter¬ 
ests, for 

(1) Politicians would seek their support, for 
(a) Director General McAdoo did this in the 
case of the railway men. 

B. Political patronage would be increased, for 

1. No civil service system could be installed to prevent 
it, for 

a. The miners would not accept it, for 

(1) It would destroy their organization. 

C. Financial corruption would result. 

D. It is only a preliminary to Sovietism, for 

1. This is shown by the statement of the British Labor 
leaders and the provisions of the Plumb Plan. 

II. No democratic government is adapted to the operation of 
industries, for 
































































































. 







































































































































































































































































































































































































144 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


A. The fundamentals necessary to business success differ 
from the fundamentals of government, for 

1. Business success depends on such things as: 
continuity of administration, well defined policies, 
private initiative. 

2. Some of our government safeguards are: limita¬ 
tion of tenure of office, division of power. 

3. The force of private initiative is lacking in govern¬ 
ment. 

4. The principles of democracy make efficiency a sec¬ 
ondary object. 

B. Experience proves this, for 

1. The affairs of the U. S. Shipping Corporation are 
full of incompetence and corruption, for 

a. The Fisher Richardson report to the Senate 
shows this. 

2. Private operation of the railways in the U. S. is 
more successful than government operation was. 

3. The conclusion of E. R. Johnson and G. B. Hueb- 
ner, transportation experts, is that throughout the 
history of state management of railways, this method 
has been proved unsuccessful. 

4. Government ownership and operation of mines has 
been a failure, for 

(a) This is the conclusion of the State Mining 
Commission of the Union of South Africa. 

III. Government ownership of the mines is not necessary, 
for 

A. Labor conditions do not require it, for 

1. Nationalization could not settle the only serious 
cause of strikes, for 

a. It could not settle the closed shop issue. 

2. Most difficulties can be cured by such plans as that 
of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. 

B. Profiteering is a marketing not a mining evil, for 
1. The real profiteer is the middleman. 

C. Coal shortage has been due to car shortage, for 

1. There has been plenty of coal at the mines. 

2. Private operation, under supervision, by the Inter- 
State Commerce Commission, has overcome the car 
shortage. 



146 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


D. Conservation is not an urgent problem, for 

1. The U. S. Geological Survey shows that we have 
enough coal to last four thousand years. 

2. Mining operations have grown more and more effi¬ 
cient, for 

a. 70 per cent of the coal mined is now brought 
to the surface instead of 50 per cent, as was 
the case fifty years ago. 

b. There is room for only 15 per cent improve¬ 
ment. 

E. Government regulation is preferable to ownership and 
operation. 

II. From the following list of talking points for a cord disc 
drive for an automobile, select those points you zvould pre¬ 
sent: 

a. To the construction engineer of an automobile manufac¬ 
turing company (you are trying to persuade the concern to 
use this disc in the manufacture of its cars). 

b. To a dealer in automotive equipment (you are a job¬ 
ber’s salesman trying to get the dealer to stock this disc). 

1. The cord disc drive has a high mechanical efficiency. 

2. It is inferior to metal in freedom from vibration and 
whip. 

3. Freedom from vibration is difficult to obtain without 
careful balancing and use of a centering device. 

4. In the elimination from shocks it is superior to metal 
and will therefore increase the life of the other parts of a 
car. 

5. In the matter of safety, there is no danger of sudden 
failure and the cord disc is better or equivalent to metal. 

6. It is much quieter in operation than metal disc drives. 

7. The cord disc has ample ability to transmit torque. 

8. The cord disc has ability to operate through an angle 
of 6 degrees. 

9. The cord disc drive is more cumbersome than metal and 
this interferes with cleavances. 

10. It is lighter than metal and this is important because of 
the lightness of the propeller tube. 

11. Engineers strive to reduce unsprung weight. 

12. In sturdiness and mechanical appearance the cord disc 
is inferior to metal partly because of the novelty. 







148 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


13. As to durability of the cord disc drive, test data is 
not available; but is probably inferior to metal. 

14. The cord is more reliable than metal. 

15. It will run 10,000 miles after worn out. 

16. The cord disc requires no lubrication. 

17. Freedom from attention, save for occasional tighten¬ 
ing of bolts marks its great superiority over metal discs. 

18. The cord disc has only one moving part which makes 
for ease of replacements. 

19. It is cheaper than metal because of fewer parts and 
simple forging. 

20. It can be manufactured more cheaply than metal discs. 

21. It has no bearing surfaces, no difficult operations, no 
need for great runways, no splines or slip joints and there¬ 
fore has low assembly cost. 

22. Upkeep is minimum since few parts are used, replace¬ 
ment of the one part which is likely to fail, the disc, is 
cheap. 

III. Carefully arrange the following propositions in the 
order in which you would present them to: 

a. An audience of Farmers. 

b. An audience of Employers. 

c. An audience of Employees—members of a labor union. 

In each case tell why you choose the particular order of 
points. 


The Real Enemies of Labor. 

1. The Labor Union looks upon Capital as its chief foe. 

2. The real enemies of labor are the evils which are within 
its ranks. 

3. The sympathetic strike is one of these evils. 

4. Such a strike forfeits the goodwill of the people at 
large. 

5. Public Opinion will uphold a union in a strike only 
when the grievance is real and the demand just. 

6. The real enemies of labor are the evils which are within 
its ranks. 

7. The intervention of the International Workers of the 
World is a serious menace to organized labor. 

8. Its members are anarchists and inciters of risk. 




150 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


9. The I. W. W. leaders care nothing for the welfare of 
labor. 

10. The greatest enemies of organized labor are its cor¬ 
rupt leaders. 

11. These foes threaten the very existence of organized 
labor. 

12. The great mass of labor is judged by its leaders. 

13. The real enemies of labor are the evils which are 
within its ranks. 

( Speech-Making . Hollister, p. 191.) 

IV. Arrange the following propositions in the order in 
which you would present them to an accepting audience: 

“A Wider Appeal/' 

1. The labor problem arises from the undemocratic na¬ 
ture of industry. 

2. The last one hundred years has seen remarkable ad¬ 
vances toward democracy in politics and social relations. 

3. Industry has remained autocratic. 

4. Labor has been attempting to democratize industry. 

5. Thus far this attempt has been in the nature of a class 
struggle. 

6. Capital has been entrenched behind the vested rights of 
the property class. 

7. Labor has had no definite status. 

8. Labor has attacked capital to secure a recognition of the 
rights it deemed desirable. 

9. Both capital and labor have developed a class spirit. 

10. This attempt of labor to secure redress by a class strug¬ 
gle has apparently failed. 

11. Strikes are inadequate to deal with constructive work. 

12. The people not engaged in the struggle are becoming 
estranged from the strike system. 

13. Labor should make a wider appeal. 

14. The particularistic struggle has failed to secure a pro¬ 
gressive change in ideas, laws, and institutions governing the 
status of labor. 

15. To secure such a change, the laboring class must ap¬ 
peal to the general public. 






152 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


V. Criticize the arrangement of the propositions in the 
following article on the supposition that it is to be a speech 
to a hostile audience: 

“There are many reasons that impel a successful industrial 
organization of any kind to increase in size and scope. 

“If a given plant grows, it will in time reach the limits 
imposed by its location; and difficulties of floor space, labor 
supply, and the handling of materials and products will re¬ 
quire that further growth shall be obtained by the erection 
or purchase of plants elsewhere. Since such expansion 
usually results in the securing of more capacity than is ac¬ 
tually needed at the time, the management at once makes 
every effort to utilize this capacity and thus forces a more 
rapid growth. 

“Very real economy results from operating under joint 
management two or more plants engaged in making the same 
products. Not only is the overhead—that bug-bear of every 
manufacturer—reduced by thus increasing the total area of 
manufacturing operations, but the flexibility of the produc¬ 
tive system and the efficiency of the distributing system are 
both improved. 


“Field Big Enough for All.” 

“Another factor that may force expansion upon a company 
is the demand on the part of its customers that it shall supply 
each one of a given line of products. Formerly most large 
industrial companies produced only certain parts of a given 
line, whether of merchandisable articles or construction ma¬ 
terial, and left it to others to fill in the gaps. This system 
has decided advantages from a manufacturing standpoint, but 
it does not appeal to the arbiter of business—the buyer— 
who prefers undivided responsibility. 

“Consequently, the natural tendency of a successful indus¬ 
trial concern is to grow large, to leave the class of ‘little busi¬ 
ness,’ where one man is responsible for everything, and be¬ 
come ‘big business,’ where affairs are handled by a complex 
and never-dying organization. And so great are the re¬ 
sources of America, that there is no visible limit to the num¬ 
ber of big businesses nor to the size of any of them. 

“There is, however, a very accurately-defined limit as to 
the rate at which any given concern can grow. The man¬ 
agement of a large organization is a very difficult task, and 








154 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


if the organization is expanded too rapidly for the ability 
of its management, failure is certain to result. 

“But practice makes perfect in all things, and the man¬ 
agement that has successfully conducted the affairs of one 
plant can safely try to take care of two. Then, when it 
has solved the peculiar problems that arise under these new 
circumstances, it is ready to handle three. And so, by easy 
steps, the concern can grow; and, though there are some 
conspicuous exceptions, this is the normal way big businesses 
are being formed. 

“But the growth of ‘big business’ is not by any means 
going to eliminate ‘little business.’ On the contrary, the field 
for individual initiative and enterprise is wider and more 
attractive than it has ever been before. 

“For one thing, big business can occupy itself only with 
certain kinds of products, especially standardized goods. It 
is, for example, possible to make women’s shoes in large 
factories under a single management, but not so with wo¬ 
men’s hats. The reason is that, as things are at present, 
shoes can be standardized and turned out in large quan¬ 
tities, but with hats, women welcome rapid and radical 
changes in fashions and resent any attempt at uniformity. 
No large concern could manufacture profitably under such 
conditions, and consequently there are hundreds of milliners 
to every shoe manufacturer. 

“The same thing is true of products of a more technical 
nature. Small concerns cannot now manufacture automo¬ 
biles to sell for less than $500, but they can make cars that 
sell for more than $5,000. With the costly car, individuality 
and taste must be consulted, and personal attention to each 
order, which is only possible with small concerns, is the 
requisite of success. 

“In addition, every big business creates markets that little 
business can immediately occupy. Consider the number of 
manufacturers making accessories for automobiles, all of 
which have sprung up in the shadow of the huge automo¬ 
bile establishments. Similarly, only concerns of large capital 
and resources can build electric railroads or battleships; but 
the number of concerns that can supply details for these con¬ 
structions is legion. 

“ ‘Big Business’ is bound to play a leading part in America. 
The great natural resources of the country will be developed 
by it; the immense engineering enterprises that will be char- 























































, 

















156 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


acteristic of the future will be undertaken by it; the greater 
part of the articles of general consumption, including per¬ 
haps agricultural products, will be supplied by it. But ‘little 
business’ will advance with equal steps, and there never will 
come a time when the individual cannot create, control, and 
develop, to the extent of his ability, his own business in his 
own wav.” (Henry D. Shute, Vice-President, Westinghouse 
Electric & M’f’g Co. Forbes, Dec. 24, 1921.) 


VI. Point out the inference and the evidence in the fol¬ 
lowing paragraph: 

“There is no reasonable prospect of low-priced cotton this 
year or perhaps for several years to come. According to 
the Department of Agriculture the ravages of the boll weevil 
in 1921 reduced the production of cotton to the extent of 
109.1 pounds per acre. The loss from all causes, such as 
climatic conditions, plant diseases, insect pests and other fac¬ 
tors, was 163.1 pounds per acre. This would indicate, ac¬ 
cording to the Department figures, that the boll weevil alone 
cut down the crop of last season to the extent of 6,277,000 
bales, while the loss from other causes represented an ad¬ 
dition of 4,435,000. Until some practical method of weevil 
control is discovered, there is no reasonable prospect of a 
return to normal prices for cotton, that is, pre-war prices, say 
around the 15-cent level.” (The Magazine of Wall Street, 
Sept. 16, 1922.) 





158 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter II. 

Inference. 

I. Classify the inference movement in the following ad¬ 
vertisement. Is it inductive or deductivef 

“New England is one of the most important markets in 
the country. 

“It is prosperous. With a population of only seven per 
cent of the country, New England, in 1920 made ten per 
cent of the total individual income tax returns, reporting ten 
per cent of the country’s income. 

“Its cities are close together. This makes New England a 
territory your salesmen can cover quickly and at minimum 
expense. 

“There are 5,656,289 New Englanders (not counting il¬ 
literates and children who are under ten years of age) who 
can be appealed to by the written world through newspaper 
advertising. 

“New England consumers as well as dealers are most re¬ 
ceptive to advertising. 

“Develop this prosperous and responsive market.” 
(Adapted from an advertisement of the New England home 
daily newspapers, Printers' Ink, Jan. 11, 1923.) 

II. Criticize the validity of the conclusion expressed in the 
following paragraph. What is the error in the inference 
movement ? 

“The study of the parts and workings of the typewriter is 
extremely interesting. A principle involved in typewriter 
construction—that of the roller—links closely the typewriter 
business with other lines. We read of huge plantations in 
tropical climes where dusky laborers tap the trunks of trees 
and smoke the sap into what is called crude rubber. One 
sees pictures of men smelting iron in large blast furnaces— 
the crude products of which is refined and made into type¬ 
writer rollers, which are then covered with rubber to make a 
resilient base against which the type bars make impressions. 
The L. C. Smith typewriter uses this principle and its ma¬ 
chines are found in every country. The Remington machines 
are used by hundreds of thousands of satisfied owners, all of 





















































160 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


whom perhaps do not stop to consider the relationship of 
typewriter construction to the rubber industries. When a 
large concern employing hundreds of typists advocate the 
use of Oliver typewriters because they are servicable and the 
employers are at sometime annoyed because of a great 
amount of noise issuing by the typing room—they advocate 
the changing of the worn-out rubber rollers for new ones 
of soft resilient rubber. Every typewriter manufacturer— 
uses the rubber roller.” 

III. Construct valid syllogisms from the following ex¬ 
amples of faulty deduction: 

(a) “Whatever harms people should be avoided. 

“A tariff on steel girders harms building contractors. 
Therefore, the protective tariff should be avoided.” 

(b) “Bankruptcy is proof that wrong procedure was fol¬ 
lowed. Jones is a bankrupt. 

“Therefore, to succeed do just the opposite to what Jones 
advises.” 

(c) “A Federal Bureau of Business Practice, we declare, 
would be unconstitutional. 

“Things which are unconstitutional cannot become law. 
Therefore, you should oppose a bill authorizing such a 
bureau.” 

(d) “The best accountant I ever employed had red hair. 
This accountant has red hair. 

“Therefore, I shall engage him.” 

(e) “Lawsuits should be avoided. 

“Collecting this bill from Smith involves a lawsuit. 

“Therefore, this bill should not be collected.” ( Developing 
Executive Ability, Gowin.) 

IV. Is the inference movement in the following paragraph 
inductive or deductive? What is the error in the inference 
movement ? 

“In spite of the depression of 1920—the X Y Z Co. had 
a year of marked success. In 1921 their gross sales almost 
doubled those of the, preceding year. The discontent among 
the employees was done away with—largely because of salary 
increases and the establishment of profit-sharing on a co- 









162 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


operative basis. The departments had been reorganized and 
the advertising manager expected sales to exceed $150,000 
per week in 1922. The added enthusiasm among the help 
sent X Y Z products to the top of the list in quality but 
sales have not passed beyond $125,000 per week. Therefore 
the advertising manager should be discharged. The X Y Z 
Co. can then exceed all competitors in quantity as well as 
quality.” 

V. Draw valid conclusions from the following sets of 
premises, if possible: 

(a) “Many of the large insurance companies have evaded 
the laws. This company is among the largest in the world.” 

(b) “This law will either be nullified or enforced; if nulli¬ 
fied it will be worse than useless; if enforced it will cause 
injustice.” 

(c) “If the Interstate Commerce Commission acts fairly 
the railroads will be satisfied. 

“The Commission does not act fairly.” 

(d) “Many accountants have C. P. A. degrees. This 
accountant does not have a C. P. A. degree.” 

(e) “All adding machines have cranks. 

“This machine has a crank.” 

VI. Classify the inference movements in the following 
paragraphs: 

a. “In 9 countries in which the population is from 1 to 
150 per square mile, the births to a 100 marriage are 396; 
in 16 counties with a population of 150-200 per square mile, 
births are 390 to a 100 marriages. Therefore the number of 
births per marriage is inversely related to the density of 
population, and contradicts Malthus’s theory of the law of 
population.” (Elements of Logic, Hvslop.) 

b. “The continued success of this old, conservative low- 
priced house is evidence enough of the character, individual¬ 
ity, and durability of its material and workmanship as well 
as of the truth of its advertisements and the courtesy of 
its management.” (Essentials of Argument, Stone and 
Garrison.) 

c. “Why should any but professional moralists trouble 
themselves with the solution of moral difficulties? For, as 





164 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


we resort to a physician in case of any physical disease so 
in case of any moral doubt or moral disorganization it 
seems natural that we should rely on the judgment of some 
man specially skilled in the treatment of such subjects.” 
(Hyslop.) 

d. “As an evidence of the remote antiquity of highly civil¬ 
ized man we have the following facts: On one of the remote 
islands of the Pacific—Easter Island—2,000 miles from 
South America, 2,000 miles from the Marquesas, and more 
than 1,000 miles from the Gambier Islands, are found hun¬ 
dreds of gigantic stone images, now mostly in ruins. They 
are often forty feet high while some seem *to have been much 
larger, the crowns on their heads, cut out of a red stone, 
being sometimes 10 feet in diamter while even the head 
and neck of one is said to have been 20 feet high. The 
island containing these remarkable works has an area of 
about 30 square miles and as the smallest image is about 8 
feet high, weighing 4 tons, and as the largest must weigh 
over a 100 tons or much more, their existence implies a 
large population, abundance of food, and an established 
government which so small an island could not supply.’’ 
(Hyslop.) 

VII. Criticize the following chains of reasoning: 

(a) “All metals are elements. 

“No metals are non-elements. 

“No non-elements are metals. 

“All non-elements are not metals. 

“All metals are elements. 

“Some elements are metals. 

“Some metals are elements. 

“No metals are elements.” 

(b) “Good men are wise. 

“Unwise men are not good. 

“Some wise men are good. 

“No good men are unwise. 

“Some unwise men are not good. 

“Some good men are wise. 

“No good men are wise. 

“Some good men are not wise. 

“No unwise men are good. 

“No wise men are good.” 








166 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter III. 

Evidence. 

I. Point out the kinds of evidence in the following para¬ 
graphs: 

a. “We hear plenty of talk about reduced wages. 

“(According to the census) there are approximately forty- 

one million people gainfully employed in the United States. 

“Reduce the income of each one of that forty-one million 
by as little as one dollar a day. That means forty-one million 
dollars a day taken from the purchasing power of the peo¬ 
ple who directly or indirectly are responsible for the pur¬ 
chase of your goods. 

“For the average advertiser, the average man must have 
a surplus. If he has not, he cannot buy, and if he cannot 
buy, why advertise to him. 

“It is plain that reduction of wages beyond a reasonable 
extent does not make for extending markets. It contracts 
them. 

“Wages dropping below a falling price curve do not bring 
prosperity. Prices and wages should show an ever-greater 
difference in order that purchasing power may become greater 
and greater. That way lies larger profits for all of us, and 
that way lives a better mankind/’ (Slightly adapted from 
an editorial in Advertising and Selling, Jan. 1923.) 

b. “Every business man knows that fabrication is not 
difficult, but sale at a profit is difficult. It is not impossible 
to start a new automobile factory and make a better car at 
a lower cost than the flivver, because the limit of invention 
is not yet in sight, and Mr. Ford is still a human being, in 
spite of all attempts to deify him. Suppose such a factory 
were started, and its owner, counting on the automatic opera¬ 
tion of the law of supply and demand, w r ere to make a lower 
price than Ford’s and just wait for customers. Would he 
find Emerson right, that clamorous buyers would beat a path 
to his door, elbowing each other out of line to secure one 
of the new cars? Personally I would bet on the Ford sales 
organization putting more flivvers on the road, at a higher 
price.” (E. F. DuBrul [Gen’l Mgr.], of the National Machine 
Tool Builders’ Association, quoted in Administration, Jan. 
1923.) 







168 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


c. “At the present time wages in the U. S. are 210 per 
cent higher than they were in 1914, while the efficiency of 
labor is only 60 per cent of what it was in 1914. That 
means that the cost of production today is 350 per cent 
greater than it was before the war. The way to lower the 
prices is to increase the efficiency of labor which is only 60 
per cent of what it was before the war. That this can be 
done, was demonstrated by the 20 per cent increase of pro¬ 
ductive output during the war. But in order to secure this 
result you must have the good will of labor, and the laborer’s 
good will can only be obtained by giving the workingman a 
voice in the management of industry. Royal Meeker, for¬ 
mer commissioner of labor statistics of the U. S. Labor 
Department, says: ‘Before abandoning ourselves completely 
to pessimism and despair we should at least try the experi¬ 
ment of giving the workers a real voice and responsibility in 
management. * * * Let them know all about the busi¬ 

ness, except only those technical processes which must be kept 
secret; take them into a real partnership and production will 
enormously improve both in quantity and quality.’ Professor 
John R. Commons, the great economist from the University 
of Wisconsin, has pointed out how one industry, the Pack¬ 
ard Piano Company, has brought about this result through 
democracy in industry. In this firm the plan was tried, and 
while formerly during a period of three months, an average 
of two hundred and forty-two employees working ten hours 
a day turned out seven hundred forty-six pianos, under the 
new system during the corresponding months two hundred 
thirty-five employees working eight hours a day turned out 
eleven hundred pianos, an increase of 86 per cent in the ef¬ 
ficiency of the labor, due entirely as he points out to the in¬ 
crease in efficiency and the economic output of the workers. 
Professor Commons has proved our contention exactly, 
namely, that industrial democracy increases the efficiency and 
thereby lowers the cost of production.” ( University De¬ 
baters' Annual , 1920-1921, p. 305.) 

II. Write one paragraph on each of two of the following 
propositions, using evidence from experience as your raw 
data. Remember that evidence from experience is most ef¬ 
fective when it is experience that was intense originally, that 
is frequently recollected, that is frequently experienced, or 
that has been recently experienced. 













170 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


a. “Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, 
before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into 
air.”—John Quincy Adams. 

b. “Show a man how to sell your goods and you don’t 
have to ask him to buy them.”—J. A. Carroll. 

c. “The man to whom an executive is most grateful, the 
man whom he will work hardest and value most, is the man 
who accepts responsibility willingly.”—Gifford Pinchot. 

d. “Workman who have over them employers who fly into 
a rage cannot be expected to reach 100% efficiency.” 

III. Suggest evidence from experience that would be more 
effective in the following paragraph than the evidence ac¬ 
tually used: 

“You and I used to have little to say about war or peace. 
We now have a great deal to say. Why this change? The 
answer is very simple. Formerly, as a rule, wars were 
waged between soldiers. Now war directly affects each and 
every one of us, and also enlists for war service, directly or 
indirectly, most of us. Consequently, we have more at stake. 
It is one thing to match bodies of professional soldiers against 
one another. It is another thing to call upon all the people 
of a nation to enter the lists against all the people of another 
nation. War is no longer merely the business of the soldier. 
War has become the business of us all. Hence, you and I 
speak up when our statesmen get together to deal with prob¬ 
lems affecting war and peace. In this lies hope for the future 
preservation of peace.” (Forbes Magazine, Dec. 24, 1921.) 

IV. Criticize the following as <authorities on the subject 
of the “Payment of the Allied indebtedness to the United 
States”: 

a. Jeremiah Jenks. 

b. William Tilden, 2nd. 

c. William Jennings Bryan. 

d. E. R. Seligman. 

e. Secretary Mellon. 





172 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


V. Bring to class five good authorities on each of the 
following subjects: 

a. The Flour-Milling Industry. 

b. The Work of Wall Street. 

c. English common law. 

VI. Why is the testimonial evidence ineffective in the fol¬ 
lowing cases? 

a. “Maroney is reported as saying that, ‘There was not a 
member of the Clan-na-Gael but that wanted the murderers 
of Dr. Cronin discovered and punished’; and he added, ‘The 
records of the Clan-na-Gael will show T that I have always 
opposed murders or assassinations, for revenge or for any 
cause whatever.’ ” (Editorial extract from the Chicago 
Herald.) 

b. Mr. Brown, a prominent New England candy manu¬ 
facturer, says: ‘After having examined the facts in the case 
minutely, I do not advocate the establishment of a minimum 
wage law for women in the candy industry. Such a law 
has been tried out in Australia and has failed. It would do 
the same here. It would make for lowered efficiency among 
the women workers and would reduce them all to the mini¬ 
mum standard. While the wages of the women in the candy 
industry are low, I cannot see how a minimum wage will 
improve matters.’ 

c. “We must do everything that we can to encourage and 
foster Pan-Americanism. Friendly relations between “South 
America and European countries are on the wane. Now 
is our time to act. Because of the closer geographical prox¬ 
imity of South America to the Atlantic ports of the U. S. 
than to the ports of Europe, the development of Pan- 
American trade should be fostered.” 

d. “The most damaging evidence was that of one Allen 
who swore that he had seen Armstrong with Metzker about 
ten or eleven o’clock in the evening. When asked how he 
could see he answered that the moon shone brightly. Under 
Lincoln’s questioning he repeated the statement until it was 
impossible that the jury should forget it. With Allen’s tes¬ 
timony unimpeached, conviction seemed certain. 








174 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


“ * * * In closing he (Lincoln) reviewed the evidence, 

showing that all depended on Allen’s testimony, and this he 
said he could prove to be false. Allen never saw Armstrong 
strike Metzker by the light of the moon, for at the hour 
when he said he saw the fight, between ten and eleven o’clock, 
the moon was not in the heavens. Then procuring an al¬ 
manac, he passed it to the judge and jury. The moon which 
was on that night only in its first quarter, had set before 
midnight.” ( Life of Abraham Lincoln , Ida M. Tarbell, Vol. 
I, p. 272.) 


VII. Write a paragraph on one of the following proposi¬ 
tions. Use a large amount of testimonial evidence. 

a. The New York State Income Tax should be repealed. 

b. The U. S. Railway Labor Board should be abolished. 


VIII. Which would you say should be considered the 
stronger in the court room, direct evidence or circumstantial 
evidence? 

IX. What is the value of the evidence in the following 
case? 

a. “A, following his election as senator, is charged with 
bribery. He is said to have, paid one thousand dollars to B, 
a member of the legislature, for B’s vote. B testifies that 
A paid him the money in ten 100-dollar bills in the presence 
of C and D, and that on the same day he (B) deposited the 
money in the bank. B is a poor man, of bad character. 

“C testifies that he was present when A and B met, and 
that A paid no money to B. C is a man of bad character 
employed by A. 

“D testifies that he was present when A and B met, and 
that A paid B one thousand dollars in ten 100-dollar bills. 
D is a man of bad character, a close friend of B. 

“E, a bank clerk, testifies that on the day A and B met, 
B deposited one thousand dollars in his bank, in ten 100- 
dollar bills.” ( The Essential of English Composition, Linn, 
p. 141.) 









176 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


X. Would you consider Mr. Gaynor, formerly Mayor of 
New York City, a good source for testimonial evidence to the 
effect that New York City has a respect for law and order, 
if you found the following three statements? Give reasons 
for your answer: 

Judge Gaynor, New Rochelle, February 1, 1910. 

“Do you think the government of the city of New York 
was ever so base, vulgar and corrupt as for a part of the 
time under its present charter? * * * Those put in ruler- 

ship over the city * * * and those whose mere puppets 
they were in office were all the time in it up to their very 
armpits.” 

Mayor Gaynor, October 5, 1910. 

“Let me hope that this city, as orderly a city as there is in 
the world, will never be held up by persons or newspapers 
as a mere refuge or home of unfortunate women and gamb¬ 
lers.” 

Mayor Gaynor, December 22, 1910. 

“When we look about and see the dishonesty and graft 
which exists now, we cannot wish to add thereto by putting 
the operation of our railroads in official hands.” 



178 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter IV. 


Motive Reasoning 


I. Bring to class an advertisement that contains vivid evi¬ 
dence from experience. What kind of images are used: 


pressure (touch) 
warm 


visual 

auditory 

olfactory 

taste 


cold 


pain 


II. What kind of images are used in the following para¬ 
graphs? Criticize the motive reasoning. 

a. “The present scheme is petering out; it has run its 
tether. A thousand years have elapsed since 1914. Our 
America, in the form it held hitherto, is no more booked 
for continuance than are the other institutions of that pre¬ 
historic era before the war. The best thing we can say 
about our Constitution is that it provides the machinery for 
its own annulment. I suppose that Alexander Hamilton let 
loose more currents of greed and unbelief than any other 
man how inhabiting the kingdoms of the dead. Does not 
this Potomac River fabric that he was instrumental in 
creating, present to the gaze of men and of angels a madder 
money-worship than ever before bedevilled the human species? 
Where else can be found so steep contrast between the ex¬ 
tremes of wealth and destitution? That gulf sundering 
through the midriff of our body politic is the measure of our 
social breakdown. In the dungeons of humdrum, plod the 
toiling masses accursed; whilst in the banquet hall above, 
the privileged ones hold carnival. But high against the 
wall the.Flame-Finger is writing. It is no longer a question, 
Shall we change our social order? but only, What shall we 
change it into?” (The Free City, Bouck White.) 


BRING YOUR SUITCASE 


“And move right in. Your home is waiting for you, on a cor¬ 
ner lot north of our office, one block Phinney car. You will 
certainly like it; oak floors, fireplace, coal grate, big brass 
and irons, two light bedrooms and bath second floor. 

“This room is completely and well furnished. There is 
a piano for the daughter, comfortable leather rockers for 



180 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


mother, and father, and a big easy chair for grandfather. 
A brass bed and two oak beds besides the baby bed, oak buffet 
and china closet, well filled; garage, concrete basement, fur¬ 
nace, trays, etc. 

“If you will give us 24 hours’ notice we will deliver this 
home to you completely furnished at 6 P. M. with DINNER 
ON THE TABLE, PIPING HOT, INCLUDING FRIED 
CHICKEN, (yum-yum). Doesn’t that make your mouth 
water?” (Quoted by “The Little Schoolmaster” in Printers' 
Ink , Oct. 14, 1920.) 


III. Express in one word for each, the ideas enumerated 
below: 

1. Describe the sensation when for the first time you 
breathe the rarified air upon a mountain top. 

2. The sensation when you see a new motor car. 

3. The sensation when you see a “horse and buggy” on 
Fifth Avenue. 

4. The idea of the feel of a rubber ball. 

5. The idea of the smell of the earth after the rain. 

6. The idea of the quality belonging to a person who is 
liked by everybody. 

7. The idea of perfect happiness. 

8. The idea of the quality belonging to a man whose desk 
is always littered with papers. 

9. The idea of the appearance of a face in which the dirt 
has been worked into the pores. 

10. The idea of the appearance of a house that is neither 
grand nor mean, that is comfortable and pleasant to live 
it. (Adapted from an Exercise in Elements of Composition , 
Canby and Opdyck.) 


IV. Rewrite the following paragraph using evidence from 
experience. Avoid general descriptive words. 

“Poverty is the condition in which the greater part of 
mankind lives. And poverty is made the harder by the lack 
of adjustment of the price of necessaries to the poor man’s 
inability to buy in large quantities and in advance.” ( Com¬ 
position and Rhetoric, Herrick & Damon.) 





♦ 


Ij 


% 




I 




182 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


V. Write a persuasive advertisement for Hawaiian Pine¬ 
apples. Use evidence from experience. Arouse images of 
sight, taste, and smell. 

VI. Rev/rite the following advertisement, attempt to make 
the inference movement proceed along the lines of the innate 
parental instinct tendency: 

“When you choose a watch movement in a Wadsworth 
Case you are giving that movement not only a dress of dis¬ 
tinction but the finest protection it can have. 

“The perfect workmanship in Wadsworth Cases and their 
exquisite beauty are the work of artists and master work¬ 
men who have fashioned cases for the leading watch move¬ 
ments for more than thirty years. Many of the most popu¬ 
lar designs with which you are acquainted are Wadsworth 
creations.” The Wadsworth Watch Case Company, Dayton, 
Ky., suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. Case makers for the lead¬ 
ing watch movements.” ( American Magazine, Nov. 1922.) 

VII. Rewrite the following paragraph, using motive rea¬ 
soning. Use only evidence from experiences: 

“Statistics show that during the war, when the young men 
of the country were sacrificing everything on their country’s 
altar, when we were all subscribing for liberty bonds, three 
hundred coal mining companies were profiteering. Statistics 
taken from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury show 
that some of these companies made 100% profit; some of 
them 500% ; some of them 1000% profit, and some of them 
1500% profit. These statistics show that one of these com¬ 
panies made sufficient profits in one year’s time, to retire its 
capital stock 25 times. That was one of the most brazen, 
one of the most impudent, and one of the most insolent at¬ 
tempts that has ever been made in the history of our country 
to make the American people the bond slaves of predatory 
wealth. Now as soon as you give Labor representation on 
the Board of Directors, this despicable profiteering will be 
stamped out. They would probably be able to bring these 
results about through their votes on the Board of Directors, 
but if that were unsuccessful they could publish the facts, 
and the scorching reproach of public sentiment would be 
so hot, that no corporation would dare to continue such in¬ 
famy.” ( University Debaters’ Annual, 1920-1921, p. 306.) 










. 







H ^ 

l ■ 


























184 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter V. 

Testimonial Reasoning. 

I. Which of the following propositions could be developed 
most effectively by testvmonial reasoning, if the following 
speech were to be delivered to an audience of organized labor¬ 
ers : 

“Resolved: that the several states should establish courts 
of industrial relations similar to the Kansas Court of indus¬ 
trial relations. 

1. A court of industrial relations similar to that of Kansas 
is necessary. 

2. There exists a serious conflict between capital and labor. 

3. Something must be done to protect the public. 

4. An industrial court similar to that of Kansas is funda¬ 
mentally sound and practicable. 

5. It is based upon the principle that the rights of the 
Public must always be paramount to the rights of any class. 

6. It would be fair to Labor. 

7. For the strike it would substitute a far more effective 
weapon—an impartial court of Justice. 

8. It would be fair to Capital. 

9. It would provide for a fair return on investments. 

10. It would protect the public. 

11. It would result in stability of prices and in industrial 
prosperity. 

12. The Kansas Court is based on the fundamental prin¬ 
ciples of natural justice. 

13. It is a natural expansion of and has become a part of 
our judiciary system. 

14. It guarantees, through our courts, protection by law 
of all the interested parties, Labor and Capital, and the Pub¬ 
lic. 


























# 








186 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


II. What is the weakness of the following example of tes¬ 
timonial reasoning? 


(a) “If you compel the employers in the land to recognize 
the unions, the Closed Shop will grip us inevitably. Why 
are the unions fighting for recognition? Only that they may 
enforce the Closed Shop. They admit that this is what they 
are seeking. That is what the majority of union leaders 
mean by recognition. Once recognize the unions and the 
battle is lost. Dr. Frank Stockton, in his book on ‘The 
Closed Shop in American Trade Unions/ after showing how 
the majority of trade unions are fighting for the Closed 
Shop says: ‘The method ordinarily employed is to bring 
into membership as many men as possible and then to de¬ 
mand of the employer that he recognize the union and agree 
thereafter to employ only union members.’ There is the se¬ 
quence, first recognition, and then the Closed Shop. The 
unions admit this.” 

(b) “What shall be done with the numerous expenses 
such as incorporation fees, filing fees, legal expenses, ex¬ 
penditures of promoters, and expenses in connection with 
the issue of securities incurred by a company which is newly 
organizing and incorporating. How shall these expenses 
be handled on the company’s books? A. F. Jones, senior 
member of firm of Jones and Smith says, ‘Since the organiza¬ 
tion expenses will have to be incurred only once during the 
life of the corporation, and as the benefit of these expenses 
is presumed to exist throughout the life of the business, it 
is manifestly not proper to charge them against the operating 
revenues of the first year.’ L. C. Smith, junior member of 
the same concern says, ‘Organization expenses should not 
be charged against the operating revenue of the first year. 
They should be written off over a period of from three to 
ten years, depending upon the amount of the initial expendi¬ 
tures.’ It seems quite logical, then, to treat organization 
expenses as a deferred asset.” 


III. Bring to class three good examples of testimonial 
reasoning . Be prepared to show why it is good testimonial 
reasoning. 




188 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


IV. Rewrite the copy in the following advertisement. 
Change the Indirect Testimonial Evidence to Direct Testi¬ 
monial Evidence. 


“The renewable fuse has come into its own. 

“The fight for greater efficiency and economy in electric 
power and lighting circuits has been won. 

“The universal saving of 80% in annual fuse maintenance 
costs, the big safety features, the protective value, proved 
by 

“FIRST: Our tests on ECONOMY renewable 

FUSES years ago in our laboratories; 

“SECOND: Thousands of industrial plants all over the 
country in their light and power circuits; 

“THIRD: The U. S. Government on battleships, in 
fortifications, in Navy Yards, and in all 
other war activities; 

“have now been accepted and ECONOMY renewable FUSES 
are approved by the UNDERWRITERS’ LABORA¬ 
TORIES, established and maintained by the NATIONAL 
BOARD OF FIRE UNDERWRITERS. 

ECONOMY RENEWABLE FUSES 

“To electrical circuits of all kinds, ECONOMY FUSES 
mean 

“The 80% actual money saving demonstrated in hun¬ 
dreds of installations; 

“Reduced fire hazards due to accurate rating and per¬ 
formance, added to the highest quality of construction; 

“Greater protection to lives, property, and electrically 
driven machinery. 

“ECONOMY renewable FUSES were the pioneers. 
The money spent by the Economy Fuse & Mfg. Co. made 
possible this great advancement in electrical saving and 
safety. The service performed by ECONOMY renew¬ 
able FUSES was the service that won the endorsement 
of electrical men everywhere.’’ (Advertisement in the 
Saturday Evening Post, Dec. 27, 1919.) 







190 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


V. Rewrite the following paragraph of reasoning. Use 

testimonial reasoning. 

“It is common knowledge that during prosperity labor is 
inefficient, and that during hard times the reverse is true. 
We are now passing through a period where managers are 
attempting to undo the evil they brought upon themselves 
during the feverish activity of the peak period by their slip¬ 
shod methods of rewarding labor. The result of such short¬ 
sighted methods is now glaring—discontent and wasteful 
strikes. This constant tugging at the ends of the rope with 
temporary victory at one end and short-lived success at the 
other is due to the fact that the relation between labor and 
management is not based on a common understanding— 
on carefully developed standards, and a flexible adjustment 
to conditions and to individual differences. 

“In the last analysis, this working in the dark results in 
inequality in salaries, breeds discontent, and discontent means 
a high turnover of labor and low production—both of which 
are costly.” ( Administration, Jan. 1923. “A Survey of De¬ 
livery Operations,” H. B. Wess.) 










392 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter VI. 

Systematic Reasoning. 

I. Classify the following inference movements on the basis 
of casual relationship. Criticize each. 

(a) “Following the attack of President Roosevelt on large 
corporations in 1907, came a period of financial depression. 
Many banks failed and thousands of men were turned out 
of employment. The President is to be condemned for caus¬ 
ing such a panic.” (Foster, p. 185.) 

(b) “The gentleman asks that the Supreme Court of the 

U. S. should give heed to the dictum expressed in a de¬ 
cision by one of the judges of the Supreme Court of New 
York. It is surely a novel theory of jurisprudence that a 
higher court shall consider itself bound by the erroneous in¬ 
ferences drawn by a court of inferior jurisdiction. Because 
my lady’s lap dog chooses to chase his tail ’round and ’round 
upon the carpet of her room, is it any reason that the lordly 
elephant should gyrate after his caudal appendage? Because 
the Jersey mosquito sings his song in a dulcet soprano, is 
it any reason that the lion should roar in high C?” ( Es¬ 

sentials of Argumentation, Stone and Garrison, p. 316.) 

(c) “Let me ask your attention, in the first place, to those 
appearances, on the morning after the murder, which have 
a tendency to show that it was done in pursuance of a pre¬ 
concerted plan of operation. What are they? A man was 
found murdered in his bed. No stranger had done the deed, 
no one unacquainted with the house had done it. It was ap¬ 
parent that somebody within had opened and that somebody 
without had entered. There had obviously and certainly 
been concert and co-operation. The inmates of the house 
were not alarmed when the murder was perpetrated. The 
assassin had entered without any riot or violence. He had 
found the way prepared before him. The house had been 
previously opened, the window was unbarred from within 
and its fastening unscrewed. There was a lock on the door 
of the chamber in which Mr. White slept, but the key was 
gone. It had been taken away and secreted. The footsteps 
of the murderer were visible outdoors, tending toward the 
window. The plank by which he entered the window still 
remained. The road he pursued had been thus prepared for 
him. The victim was slain and the murderer had escaped. 
Everything indicated that somebody within had co-operated 










































194 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


with somebody without. Everything proclaimed that some 
of the inmates or somebody having access to the house, had 
had a hand in the murder. On the face of the circumstances, 
it was apparent, therefore, that this was a premeditated, con¬ 
certed murder; that there had been a conspiracy committed.” 
(Webster, “The Murder of Capt. Joseph White.”) 

II. Pick out the various kinds of casual inference in the 
following article: 

“Several Pathfinder readers have protested against the re¬ 
cent campaign of the agricultural department and the stock 
raisers and packers to induce people to ‘eat more meat.’ They 
urge that most people eat too much meat already and that 
many of the most prevalent diseases would disappear if a 
more rational diet were adopted. Charles E. Decker, of 
Camden, Ohio, writes: ‘When eating meat, much of the waste 
and poisonous matter in the animal is taken into the human 
system. Man has enough waste and excretory matter in 
his own system to contend with, without taking animal filth 
in to further burden it/ Mr. Decker points out that the 
proteins which meat furnishes can be secured with better 
results by eating beans, peas, lentils, milk, cheese, eggs, etc. 

“It is now known that fresh vegetables, such as lettuce, 
raw carrots, etc., are necessary for the purpose of supplying 
of vitamins and other principles which play such an essential 
part in the human economy and health. Practically every 
ailment which can be cured or remedied is now treated by 
placing the victim on a diet which is as free as possible from 
the animal poisons. In this way the ashes which clog the 
human furnace are gradually eliminated, and nature has a 
chance to show what she can do for a person who makes his 
diet and his everyday habits of life a part of his gospel and 
who doesn’t believe in ‘digging his grave with his teeth.’ 

“Vegetarians have long been regarded as ‘cranks,’ and thou¬ 
sands of people who might have benefited by a let-up from 
meat-eating habits have stuck to the fleshpots for fear of being- 
ridiculed. It is true that a person in order to thrive on a 
non-meat diet has to give special attention to the matter of 
eating. He must make sure that he eats enough to supply 
the demands of his body. Meat is a very concentrated form 
of nutriment, and hence it is the logical mainstay of the great 
majority of people, as long as they can get it. 

“But, regardless of any propaganda either for or against 




196 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


meat, the fact remains that the people of this country will 
have to do just as the people of the Old World have done, 
and will be forced to a vegetable diet as the population in¬ 
creases and the cost of meat rises. It is the price that does 
the whole business. When meat was cheap, Americans ate 
twice as much of it. Providence decrees that as nations 
grow old they shall be forced to give up meat—simply be¬ 
cause they can’t get it. China and India are very old na¬ 
tions, and their people have to live on a vegetable diet if 
they live at all. The inexorable law of evolution fixes the 
fate of the meat eaters; they simply become extinct, after a 
time. They can’t compete in the struggle for existence with 
the vegetarians. Americans confess that they can’t compete 
with the Japanese. 

“That doesn’t mean that all Americans should give up 
meat completely at this time. The wise way is to make use 
of meat in moderation; it helps to supply the zest and flavor 
which most people find lacking in a non-meat diet. But when 
a person is all clogged up with poisons due to a heavy and 
undiscriminating diet he will do well to see for himself what 
a totally different diet, which will give his overworked organs 
a rest, will do for him. Advanced doctors are depending 
less and less on medicines and are relying more on changes 
in diet and other habits to restore health. Of course they 
still have to prescribe medicines—largely because their pa¬ 
tients expect it; but time, elimination, change of habits and 
natural reaction of the system are the great cures. They 
are nature’s remedies. 

“We don’t say that all medicines are bad; far from it. 
Science still has a lot to learn about the effect of medicines, 
etc., on the human system. If a person is suffering and he 
believes that a course of medicine will help him, it probably 
will help him. Whether it is the medicine or the faith that 
does the work makes little difference if he is helped. There 
are many medicines that aid nature’s processes and that help 
to eliminate the poisons that are doing the harm. Many 
people have found that they can get well and keep well by 
other means than taking medicine; but there are still many 
who have not reached that point, and it is foolish to try to 
lay down the same rules for all.” (The Pathfinder, Jan. 27, 
1923.) 

III. The following extract from an editorial in the New 
York Morning World of Dec. 13, 1922, gives the first step— 







198 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Need —in a systematic appeal. Write the remaining steps 
for a speech that will use systematic reasoning throughout. 

“Language By Efficiency Experts 

“According to a report from London, certain statisticians 
have found' that it costs $40,000,000 a year to print the silent 
letters of the English and French languages. Is not a pal¬ 
pable injustice done to the eminent linguistic efficiency ex¬ 
perts who have made the momentous discovery in keeping 
their identity concealed ? Simplified spellers everywhere 
will hail them as benefactors. Other investigators seek to 
curb waste in industry and public administration but these 
pursue it to the great fountainhead of human speech. 

“If $40,000,000 is lost annually from the uneconomical- 
use of language, other statisticians-may readily estimate the 
colossal amount of the waste at compound interest since the 
invention of printing. That loss, of course, is total, but it 
is not too late to inaugurate reforms and institute con¬ 
servation measures. A society for the elimination of silent 
letters in English might be able to give spelling reform a new 
impetus by placing the movement on an industrial efficiency 
basis. 

“They overlooked this aspect of language in Victorian 
times. Then its study was animated by romantic ideals and 
speech was analyzed for its rhetorical and not its commercial 
values. The old dry-as-dust method was to find how many 
words used by Keats occurred in Spenser; the new idea, ap¬ 
parently, is to count the syllables to learn hpw much cash 
could be saved to printers by curtailing them.” 

IV. Bring to class two good examples of systematic rea¬ 
soning. 

V. Write a paragraph attacking the propositions in the 
following extract. Use systematic reasoning: 

“America is not a country but a continent. Americans 
are notorious for their materialist quality of mind. It is 
because we gave up our system o.f little republics, and con¬ 
solidated into what is now the hughest of nations. Being 
biggest of them all, we are most material minded of them 
all. Things, Things, Things are in the saddle; with man as 
the packhorse underneath. Rich in self are we, and spiritual 
paupers. The bank book is our Bible. Idolatry of the Dol¬ 
lar ; Stable of the Golden Calf. With mediocrity marking us 
for her own.” ( The Free City, Bouck White.) 










200 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


Chapter VII. 

Fallacies. 

I. What fallacies can you find in the following specimens 
of reasoning: 

a. “Tables issued by the Life Insurance Companies, show¬ 
ing the chances of life in your occupation, prove that the 
average age at death is 52 years. From this fact you can 
easily figure out your own chances.” 

b. “This is the portrait of a ‘man who overcame.’ He was 
a clerk in a grocery store at six dollars per week. One day 
he saw an advertisement of the * * * Correspondence 
School. He enrolled in our course in Civil Engineering and 
secured a position at forty dollars per week. What he has 
done, you can do.” 

c. “This man will make an admirable teacher, for he is a 
profound scholar.” 

d. “As the size of towns of New England varies directly 
with the size of the rivers on which they are built, it is clear 
that the size of the river is due to the size of the town.” 

e. “You should see White’s hen food. It will make your 
hens lay, for it is made of codfish, and the codfish lays more 
than 10,000 eggs a day.” 

II. Name the fallacies in the following specimens of rea¬ 
soning : 

a. The pure attention value of an advertisement is directly 
proportional to the size of the space used. The use of illustra¬ 
tions and multiple color work is an easy matter in full-page 
advertisement. Color has an innate appeal which is worth the 
price. More artistic layouts give atmosphere and attract a 
better class of replies. The attention value of an advertise¬ 
ment is directly proportional to the space used.” 

b. “Cash discounts on purchases should be treated as Other 
Income on the Profit and Loss Sheet and not deductions on 
the payment of invoices. Extreme care is not always taken 
in filing and preserving invoices. Any clerk who purposely 
























■ 






































































































































































































































































































































202 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


or carelessly fails to note purchase invoices may cause the 
company enormous losses. Special Discounts for prompt cash 
payment should appear in the Profit and Loss Statement as 
secondary income.” 

c. “A & B Co., brokers, recommend the purchase of To¬ 
bacco Products Stock. Indications seem to point to a prob¬ 
able rise in the price of this stock. Mr. B of the A & B Co. 
has just been dismissed from the board of deacons of his! 
church. He has lost many friends in the past two weeks. His 
stand on the enforcement of the Volstead Act is inconsistent. 
Mr. B should resign from the A & B Co.” 

d. “Some writers on money seem to doubt the possibilities 
of fiat money. Usually countries do not adopt fiat money. 
Adoption of fiat money in the U. S. is not to be thought of. 
The leaders of both of the principal parties, Republican and 
Democrat, are unanimously against the adoption of any such 
money standard. The men on the street, the rank and file, 
emphatically oppose it. The nation’s financiers and econo¬ 
mists have condemned the proposal in theory for years.” 

III. Find the fallacy in the following paragraph. Rewrite 
the paragraph and prove the principal proposition by valid 
reasoning: 

“Any firm that handles a large amount of correspondence 
should see to it that its filing clerks are able to see immediately 
whether a letter is to be permanently filed or to be sent back 
to some executive on a definite date. Some sort of automatic 
memory file, tickler system, or follow-up system should be 
used. This is one of the cardinal and fundamental principles 
of office management. Efficiency engineers are agreed that 
some such system should be used. In fact, this idea has come 
to be an established doctrine. Unlike most established doc¬ 
trines there are no heretics here. 


IV. Bring to class examples of the following types of 
fallacies properly labelled: 

(a) amphibology 

(b) composition 

(c) division 





204 


PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION 


V. Be able to point out orally the fallacies in the follow¬ 
ing specimens of reasoning: 


(a) “One need not be discouraged if a job starts out slowly 
and unsatisfactorily, for well begun is only half done. ,, 

(b) “The practice of spending generously and not of sav¬ 
ing should be encouraged, for it enormously increases trade 
and makes the whole country more prosperous.’’ 

(c) “The people of the city are much more literate than 
the people of the country. The reason is that there are a 
great number of schools for each one thousand of children in 
the population. The city people have had their eyes opened by 
a good education; they therefore have intelligence enough to 
see the need of schools.’’ 




























